Xenoblade Chronicles Novelisation
by RaikRhythm
Summary: Yeah, exactly what it says on the cover. A novelisation of this beautiful game from Monolith Soft. Third person.
1. The Battle of Sword Valley

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles, the wonderful Wii game from Monolith Soft, which Operation Rainfall successfully campaigned for a worldwide release, from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

**_Criticism is appreciated so long as it is CONSTRUCTIVE. Also, let me know if I've made any typos or grammatical errors. And if you think something should be changed, added, removed, or could be done better, let me know and I'll take it into consideration. Comments telling me why it sucks without an explanation will be ignored. Thanks~_**

**_Also, I'm new to the site and haven't written any form of fanfiction before, so if there's formatting issues or it's not particularly good, that's why. ^^;_**

The clouds shifted.

_Long ago, the world was nothing more than an endless sea, cloaked in a boundless sky, reaching as far as could possibly be imagined. _

A mighty crash rent the air at the sound of two gargantuan swords bouncing off one another.

_Then two great titans came into existence. _

The weapons came together again, and again, neither one gaining ground over the other.

_The Bionis, and the Mechonis._

Taking advantage of a missed blow, the white Bionis' blade cleanly sliced off the left arm of his opponent, the black Mechonis. Her arm fell into the ocean with a tremendous upheaval of water, and they continued their fight.

_The titans were locked in a timeless battle. _

The Mechonis drove her sword into the waist of the Bionis while his sword simultaneously connected with her neck.

_Until at last... Only their lifeless corpses remained._

The titans grew still.

_Eons have passed. _

_Now, our world, this vast land stretching across the remains of the Bionis, is under attack from a relentless force known as the Mechon._

The sound of Ether bullets accompanied the yelling of Homs soldiers as they dived on fallen Mechon, making sure they would not rise again. With a mighty heave, a group of warriors shifted one such hunk of metal, while another group raised their shields in momentary triumph only to be shot down by their foes.

More Mechon emerged from their fortress, which did not go unnoticed. With high brown walls on either side of them, the soldiers had but one option.

"Retreat!" cried a man on the front line. "Retreat!" Screams resounded across the battlefield as the trained soldiers scrambled away from the advancing machines.

"Get away from me!" screamed one panicked man, realising he would not escape. The Mechon surrounded him.

"Number of M78 Mechon's unknown!" a soldier reported to his intercom, noticing too late the Mechon's claws around him, snatching him from his duties and throwing him back into the mechanical mass.

Underneath the starry night sky, one man ran against the tide of fleeing Homs. Clutching a red sword with a blade of blue light, he dashed through the crowd of Mechon, felling each one as if they were nothing more than Wood Bunnits.

Dunban paused. "They're advancing down our weak right flank." He stuck his weapon into the Mechon remains beside him. "For a bunch of soulless machines, they seem to know a thing or two. But we'll see." He eyed the approaching horde, flicking his dark brown hair out of his eyes. He removed the sword and activated it, casting Enchant for good measure. A light breeze blew across the barren land, rustling the dry patches of grass and setting Dunban's senses tingling.

"Dunban!" A stocky man with eyes of a walnut brown and carrying a gunblade found his comrade leaned up against an old machine, listening to the chaos surrounding him. He was quickly followed by another rather wide-eyed man, tall and slim, with eyes and hair of such a dark shade of brown, they almost appeared black. A defence force soldier scuttled under cover after them.

"We've been given the order to retreat. We're pulling back the line to Colony 6." Dickson braced himself as there was an explosion nearby, his blonde hair waving about his face despite the bright red bandana wrapped around his head. "That's where we'll set up the last line of defence!" He gripped his gunblade tightly.

"Yeah," Dunban nodded, "That's a good idea. Any more time spent hanging around here, and we're done for." This didn't seem right to Dickson; Dunban was never persuaded this easily.

"Count me in!" Mumkhar exclaimed. "We've gotta get outta here."

"Or," Dunban swung his head around to face Mumkhar, a manic gleam in his brown eyes, "we can stay and fight?"

"What?" The three of them flinched as the Mechon fired on them again.

"We may die if we take a stand here. But staying gives us the chance to change our destinies. We have the Monado." Dunban lifted his sword, gazing at it with admiration.

Mumkhar felt a jolt of anger. _Not _we_..._

"With this," Dunban continued, "the future is ours for the taking!" Without warning he leapt up on to the metal behind him, of the mind to scale it and destroy the Mechon on the other side.

Alarmed, Dickson reached up and grabbed Dunban by the shoulder, pulling him back down again. "Stupid beast!" Dickson snarled, looking Dunban squarely in the eyes. "Your body can't take any more of the Monado." A mad grin formed on Dunban's face. "I can tell by just looking at you!"

"Getting short sighted in your old age, Dickson?" said Dunban wryly. "I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm still in control." He raised the sword as he spoke, and they both stared at it.

"Mmm..." Dickson rolled back into a seated position, "I should've known I couldn't talk sense into a beast. Let's do this." He examined his rifle. "I'm going with you! You'll need someone to drag your corpse home."

Dunban watched his friend with affection. "As long as you think you've still got the strength in you, old man."

"Oi, you two!" Mumkhar interrupted, brandishing his claws. "We've been ordered to _pull back_! I'm leaving!"

"Well _I_ say you're coming with us!" Dunban answered smugly, shoving his face right up to Mumkhar's. "What _would_ we do without those?" He indicated the silver claws that were his friend's weapon of choice. Mumkhar growled, wanting to protest.

"The enemy's second wave is approaching!" shouted the defence force soldier. The three warriors started; they had quite forgotten he was there.

"It's now or never, Dunban!" Dickson straightened up, looking beyond their metallic shield, over the battlefield that Dunban had been so eager to cast himself into. "Let's show them what we've got." He smirked at the Mechon moving towards them. "We'll give them a warm Homs welcome!"

Dunban stood and joined his friend, excitement creeping through him. "Acknowledged!" Dickson leaped over their shelter, Dunban following suit.

Mumkhar was furious. "What're they trying to prove? I'm not throwing my life away! No point dying in some godforsaken field." A vicious grin slowly unfurled on his face as a plot hatched in his mind. "Nothing for it. I'll have to use Dunban as a decoy. That should give me time to escape." _And when Dunban dies, _he thought, _I can finally have the Monado! _ He laughed to himself.

Dunban cast Enchant when Mumkhar finally caught up to them. There was no time for talk, however, as the Mechon were upon them. He dashed up to the first machine and cut it down effortlessly, knowing that his comrades would take care of themselves.

The three men quickly routed the Mechon. They regrouped to share a brief respite and admire their handiwork when another wave of foes emerged and slowly began to walk towards them.

There were Mechon M69, bipedal machines with a single, huge claw on their right side. They were as large as a very tall man – such as Dunban – and had a hunched-over appearance. They, like all the Mechon in this battle, were covered in dark blue paint with golden lines.

The Mechon M63 and M72 were over twice as tall as Dunban. They both had incredibly sharp points where noses could have been, and were identical save for the weapon on their right limb. The M63's appendage ended with a claw that was also used as a drill, while the M72's was much bulkier and opened up into a large three-bladed propeller, from which they fired small bullets of concentrated Ether energy.

More humanoid than the others – though four times as large – Mechon M82 stood on two legs and had two arm-like limbs which they could use as either a claw or a circular saw.

Hopelessness welled up within the exhausted Mumkhar. "You've got to be kidding!"

"It's their main force," said Dickson grimly. "Looks like the Mechon are hell-bent on taking us out."

Dunban looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers as adrenaline pumped through his body, blood pounding in his ears. "They'll have to be if they want to beat us. Now," he readied himself for battle, "let's even the odds a bit!"

"You heard him," grinned Dickson. Mumkhar couldn't believe what he was hearing; they were mad!

"Dickson, Mumkhar." The Monado shone in Dunban's hands. "Let's do this!" He cast Enchant again, leading the three-man assault against their foes.

Dickson dodged his opponent's blows, leaping up and smashing it on the head with his rifle. Mumkhar blocked a Mechon strike and thrust it back, slashing it to pieces before it could retaliate. But Dunban dashed right into the midst of all the machines, indiscriminately slicing straight through the armour of any foes that came near him.

Pulling his blade out of a Mechon, Dickson turned to see Dunban standing atop a pile of lifeless enemies. He was crying out in pain; the power of the Monado appeared to be too much for him. It looked as if he were being electrocuted. Dread crept into Dickson as he spotted an M72 approaching his companion.

"Dunban!" Dickson threw himself on top of Dunban and the Mechon drove its claw into his back. He grunted and shoved his gun into what look like the Mechon's neck and fired, falling with the creature down the heap of scrap metal. "I ain't going down that easily!"

He quickly climbed the mound of fallen Mechon. "Dunban! You all right?"

"What does it look like?" Dunban panted, using his sword as a support. "I'm still good to go!"

Watching from afar, Mumkhar laughed. "Guess even a hero's gotta reach his limit eventually." He turned and started to leave.

Dunban's brow furrowed; was that Mumkhar running from them? "Mumkhar? What are you doing?" He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. "That way is-"

"Sorry, brothers!" Mumkhar spun around, skidding to a stop and wearing a wicked grin. "Hate to drop this on you, but it's the Monado they're after. So have fun keeping 'em occupied for me!" Anger began to well within Dunban. "I'm getting the hell outta here!"

"Mumkhar, you dirty..." Dickson glared at him, unable to do much else.

"Oh don't worry," he laughed, "I'll organise your funerals!" Dunban stared at Mumkhar, lost for words. "Well, see ya boys!"

"Wait!" Dickson called. Hearing an odd noise, both he and Dunban turned and immediately leapt to the side. The machines Dunban had slain exploded as they were hit by a powerful Ether blast. Dunban and Dickson were thrown across the ground and Mechon parts were strewn everywhere.

"If this is a joke," Dickson growled, "it ain't funny." He watched as the hulking mass of an M104 Fortress Unit steadily approached them. Two of four huge limbs taller than an M82 held up the core of the Mechon. The front two limbs supported what resembled a hexagon-shaped chest, on top of which sat a disc-shaped head from which sprouted two antennae.

"Looks like this is it." Dickson looked up to the sky. "At least we know our luck can't get any worse from here." He turned to catch Dunban's reaction. "Dunban?"

Dunban was slowly getting to his feet, his expression one of conviction. "Dickson, take care of the survivors," he ordered. The Monado burst into life in Dunban's hands.

"Dunban, what are you playing at?" Dickson demanded. This was too reckless, even by Dunban's standards.

Meanwhile, Mumkhar was still running for freedom. "Those idiots," he huffed. "I'll just come and get the Monado when everything's quietened down a bit. That thing's gonna be mine!" Mumkhar cried out as he stumbled down a sharp slope, coming to a jarring stop at the base of it.

Mumkhar froze, realising there was a red laser targeting his forehead. Fear gripped him when many more red lasers shot out from the darkness, marking various points on his body.

"Oh no! Please!" He screamed as he was taken.

Dunban's eyes opened. He felt detached from his own body, as if something else were directing his actions and his speech. As if he were a vessel, for something... something more, something _powerful_.

"Vile Mechon! If you think the Homs, the people of Bionis, are just waiting here for you to pick us off..." a feverish madness consumed him, "You are sorely mistaken!" With a long, loud roar, Dunban charged head-on into the horde of Mechon, resigned to the fact that he was about to leave this world. But also to the fact that he would take with him as many Mechon as he could.


	2. Hometown

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles, the wonderful Wii game from Monolith Soft, **_which Operation Rainfall successfully campaigned for a worldwide release_**, from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

**_Criticism is appreciated so long as it is CONSTRUCTIVE. **_Also, let me know if I've made any typos or grammatical errors. And if you think something should be changed, added, removed, or could be done better, let me know and I'll take it into consideration._**Comments telling me why it sucks without an explanation will be ignored. Thanks~_**

The sound of clunking metal filled the air of the Mechon wreckage site as a skinny young man sifted through the piles of machine scrap.

"A Mechon M71!" He exclaimed. "I bet I can use its optical system to align one of the Anti-Air Batteries." He let out a disappointed groan. "No good. It's broken." He examined it more closely. "The joint section... It's buckled." With a grunt, he tossed it aside, almost hitting the hilt of the weapon slung over his back. "It's completely... useless!" And he flopped back on to the grass, staring up at the sky, past the leaves obstructing his view.

A dragonfly flitted above him. He turned his head to watch it land on the stalk of a flower. _Hang on... _He raised his head, having spotted another, almost perfectly intact, piece of Mechon armour.

"An M69!" Excited, he scrambled to his feet and dashed towards it, blonde hair waving as he ran.

He slowed as he approached it, placing his hands atop it to feel for any unseen damage. "Its armour would be perfect for making a shield." He gripped it and attempted to move it. "If I can just get it off, I should be able to..." The metal shook and he staggered backwards, fear creeping into his blue eyes. _It's alive!_

"Shulk!" A youth with vivid auburn hair appeared out of nowhere, ramming into the Mechon which flew through the air and bounced off another piece of metal. He watched warily as it righted itself.

"Reyn!" Shulk hadn't expected to see his friend out here. They watched as the creature turned itself around. "It's not a Mechon!" Shulk drew his sword, his fear disappearing. "It's just a Krabble! It was using the Mechon armour as a shell!"

"I'll lure it away and Topple it!" Reyn's brown eyes were focused on the Krabble. He stepped back when it tried to attack him. His tightly knotted arms were tense as he kept a firm grip on his shield-gunlance. "When it's down, use your Arts to finish it off!"

Shulk jumped back as Reyn drew the creature's attention. He snuck behind it, using Turn Strike to do some extra damage. The Krabble turned on him, ready to attack. _It's only a Krabble_, he reminded himself. _I've defeated plenty of these before, even without Reyn's help._ Shulk watched as his best friend swiped at the creature's feet, causing it to fall on its side and lose its shell. They quickly finished it off.

"Ha," Reyn laughed, "not even a challenge." They had no time to talk, as a Caterpile emerged from the ground where the Krabble had been. They looked at each other, rolling their eyes, and quickly dispatched the oversized bug.

"Thanks Reyn. That was a close one." Shulk looked up at his friend, glad to see him.

"Man, what were you doing wandering off by yourself?" Reyn was annoyed. "Stay where I can keep an eye on ya. It's pretty dangerous outside of the colony. There are all kinds of monsters."

"Yeah." Shulk nodded, abashed. He quickly turned to look at his prize. "But thanks to you, we got its shell. Everyone in the colony's gonna be really happy."

Reyn scratched his head, exasperated. "I'm more worried about you than the shell. Ah... whatever." He relaxed a little as Shulk faced him again. "Knowing what you're like, at least you'll make a decent weapon out of it." He glanced at the huge lance on his back. "This Scrap Driver's excellent."

Shulk was pleased. "I just learned by watching Dickson make weapons."

"'Course, Dunban's weapon still beats them all."

"The Monado..." Shulk suddenly turned thoughtful. "I hope I can figure out the secret of its power one day."

"You will, Shulk." Reyn was sure of it. "Anyway, we'd better get back to the colony. If I'm late for drills again, old Square-tache is gonna kill me." Reyn repressed a shudder when he remembered what had happened the last time he was late.

"Square-tache?" Shulk repeated, confused. "Oh, the Defence Force Colonel. He's pretty scary."

"Tell me about it..."

"Sorry." Shulk stared at the ground. "I didn't mean for you to come all the way out here during your break."

"Don't worry about it. Let's get back." Reyn led the way out of the clearing.

They made their way back home, passing lively bunnits, buzzing skeeters and lazy caterpiles as they jogged back through the gorge.

They slowed and Reyn turned to Shulk as they crossed the bridge leading to the Commercial District. "Here we are. I'd better stop in at HQ. You off to the Weapon Development Lab?"

"Yeah," Shulk nodded, "when I've sold any parts I can't use."

"All right." Reyn dipped his head. "See you later." He left for the Military District, hoping his break wasn't over just yet.

Shulk followed at a slower pace, glancing at Fiora's house as he passed. _I wonder how Dunban's doing._ He continued into the Commercial District; he could see Reyn disappearing around a corner up ahead.

Shulk stopped by a man near the entrance to the district. After a quick conversation, Shulk was able to get some coin in return for his spare parts. He looked up at the Ether Light as he passed; at night, its brilliance would light up the entire district. He put his hands in his pockets and kept walking, humming to himself.

"Hey you! Listen here a bit."

Shulk glanced around, and was surprised when he saw that he was the one being addressed. He walked towards the old man; he was standing next to a furnace glowing bright orange, whose shape reminded him vaguely of the Monado. _I don't think I've seen this guy around before..._

He began to speak. "Hello there, young'un. I got somethin' that might interest ya. Rather, somethin' to tell ya. It's about this here furnace." He gestured at the structure beside him.

"All right..." Shulk wondered what it was; the furnace looked rather unremarkable.

"When creatures die, they leave ether crystals behind. Everyone knows that, don't they?" Shulk nodded, and he continued. "Ether particles in the body are... Oops, that stuff's too complicated. Just remember that creatures drop ether crystals when they die."

"Okay." He wanted to learn more about the ether particles in the body, but refrained from asking.

"But I haven't got to the best part yet. Ready? Don't be shocked."

_I'll try,_ Shulk thought, trying not to smile.

Puffing up his chest with evident pride, he boasted, "This furnace compresses ether crystals and removes impurities. You can use it to make ether gems!" He was astonished to find that his client was completely indifferent to this. "What? No reaction?" When Shulk shrugged, he muttered, "Hmph, kids these days... You don't know how amazing this thing is."

The Gem Man, as Shulk decided to dub him, took a deep breath before launching into an explanation. "You can use the furnace to make ether gems. They've got the powers of ether crystals but _highly _condensed. Those ether gems can give you all sorts of powers!" The claim piqued Shulk's interest. "They're great for use in the home or by the Defence Force!"

Shulk was about to ask about the powers, but the Gem Man kept talking. "Just put 'em in weapons or armour with slots." Shulk was quiet as he tried to process the information, and the Gem Man frowned. "What? That's not much of a reaction."

Shulk tried to speak, but again the Gem Man talked over the top of him. "Never mind... It'd probably be quicker for you to try it. If ya wanna give it a try, just put gems in your weapon slots. That weapon of yours'll do fine." Shulk glanced at the sword on his back as the Gem Man held out his hand. In it were two gems.

"This one," he placed a red gem in Shulk's hand, "will increase your strength. And this," he handed Shulk a blue gem, "will increase the number of hits you can take before ya pass out."

"Thank you!" Shulk inspected the gems in his hand. They were very shiny.

The Gem Man nodded. "Don't waste your ether crystals by selling 'em! Those things are useful!" He watched Shulk as turned the gems over in his hand. "The look on your face..." he smiled. "Looks like you've realised how great ether gems are. I suppose you wanna try makin' a gem yourself?"

Shulk looked up eagerly, but found himself disappointed when the man said, "You're outta luck. I know how ya feel but ya can't. The ether furnace's broken down. Oh..." he frowned at Shulk, "You don't look too bothered."

_How can I not look bothered? _Shulk wondered.

"Never mind. Just try coming back later."

Shulk left the Gem Man, putting his hands back into his pockets as he made his way to the lab in the Military District. He took out one of the gems; it was a beautiful deep blue, the same colour as the water surrounding the colony. He gazed into it, trying to see past his reflection.

"You idiots! What the hell are you playing at?"

Shulk jumped and turned to see what the cause of the commotion was. _Uh-oh! The colonel's gonna explode._

"Crashing the mobile artillery into a house?" Colonel Vangarre was livid, his bright red moustache positively quivering with anger as he glared at the two soldiers standing in front of him. "How long have you been in the force?"

"Sorry, Sir." One of them began. "I- It's just that we were trying to go as fast as we could, like you ordered..."

"But it's impossible to get back to the Military District in only 40 seconds." The other soldier finished.

"I don't want any excuses!" yelled the colonel. "Champions don't whine, they win!"

"Yes sir."

Colonel Vangarre continued with his rant. "You're a disgrace to the uniform! Are you forgetting the shame you brought on this force during joint manoeuvres with Colony 6?" He scowled at them. "Stick your back into it, maggots! Move it!"

"Yes, sir." The soldiers straightened up.

"Get the artillery back to the Military District, double time!" Vangarre ordered. "Then I want a million press-ups from both of you! And you better not stop until your biceps explode!"

Exchanging a grim expression with his companion, one of the soldiers said, "Colonel. We can't move the artillery."

"What?" the colonel growled. "You'd better give a damn good reason why!"

"Sir! The impact of the crash damaged the ether conduction cable!" The soldier explained. "The ether fuel proceeded to leak out, and now the cylinder is empty!"

"Well, change the cylinder then!" Colonel Vangarre couldn't believe what he was hearing; they were like children! "Can't you even do something as simple as that?"

"The auxiliary cylinders have all been used up." The soldier replied. "It'll be three days until more come in, Sir."

"I told you to keep a stock of fuel in reserve!" The colonel was becoming more and more infuriated.

"Sorry, Sir..."

"You're nothing but slackers!" He raised his fist and Shulk looked away so he wouldn't have to see the man get hit.

"Same old colonel," Shulk muttered to himself. "At this rate, the men will all be dead before they see any action." He discreetly left the colonel and his men and headed into the Weapon Development Lab. He slowly approached the red blade mounted on a machine in the centre of the room.

"All right, Shulk. How are you?"

Shulk gasped when he recognised the voice. "Dickson!" He turned to face the smiling man. "When did you get back to Colony 9?"

Dickson grunted. "Just now. I see you've been busy." He raised the papers in his hand. "Looks like your Monado research has been going well." He got off the table he was sitting on, shaking his blonde hair out of the way as he walked towards Shulk. "I made the right choice leaving you in charge."

Shulk raised a hand to his head, embarrassed. "Your research notes really helped."

Dickson bent down to examine the weapon, his sharp eyes scanning it with care. "So, you can activate it now then?" He cast Shulk a sideways glance.

"Well," Shulk paused, and then said slowly, "anyone can activate it." He leaned forward, staring at the sword. "The problem is controlling it."

Dickson straightened up. "Yeah. For everyone except him."

"Yes." Shulk was only half-listening. "If anyone other than Dunban were able to control the Monado, we could surpass any military force in the world."

"You think so?" Dickson looked back down at the papers he was holding. "What are these hidden functions you mention?"

"It's still only conjecture," Shulk rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "but it's starting to look like the Monado might be something far more significant than just a weapon for defeating Mechon."

"I see." Dickson sounded intrigued. "And the evidence to support your theory?"

"It's the symbol that appears in the centre when it's activated." Shulk paused to gather his thoughts before expounding his ideas. "What I know is, the central piece is made from multilayered glass. The symbol appears on the top layer. And each layer is constructed differently."

"So it's possible that other symbols could appear on different layers?" Dickson guessed.

"Which means..."

"The Monado might conceal even more power. Am I right?" Shulk nodded.

"If we could just unlock the Monado's power..." Shulk thought back to that day a year ago, after the Battle of Sword Valley...

"Dunban! Dunban!" Shulk and Fiora were hunched over his battered body, lying on a stretcher being carried by two soldiers.

Colonel Vangarre could be heard yelling in the background. "Prioritise the most severely injured! Come on! Get a move on!"

"Dunban!" Shulk tried to get through to his friend.

"Don't look at me like that," he mumbled, "I haven't gone yet." He turned his head. "Shulk..." When Shulk bent down, Dunban began to whisper in his ear. Shulk's eyes widened, and he backed away from Dunban in shock, watching as he and his sister continued on their way. He looked back into the airship Dunban had returned in, at the sword leaning on the wall in the corner, his mind lingering on the man's words.

"It was the Monado. It was... controlling me... Even so... It saved is... saved our future... Next... it will be up to you..."

Back in the lab, Shulk murmured, "Dunban..."

"Well, I'd better get the supplies delivered to the Defence Force." Dickson turned to leave. "I'll drop round the HQ and see how they're getting on."

"OK then. I'll see you later."

Dickson sighed, and then faced the young man. "Shulk. You're spending too much time in the lab. Either that or rummaging for junk in the scrap yard. It ain't healthy for a kid your age. That's why you're always looking so pasty. You should get out, get some fresh air once in a while." Dickson turned to leave again. "All right, I'm off." He laughed to himself as he left.

Shulk hesitated, and then followed Dickson. They walked together to the Central Plaza, which had three bridges leading to each of the three districts.

"You've been making excellent progress on your Monado research, Shulk. I'm impressed," Dickson told the teen.

Despite himself, Shulk felt a streak of pride. "Thanks, Dickson. Have you had a chance to catch up with Dunban yet?"

Dickson nodded. "He still insists on keeping that picture of us with Mumkhar, just before we took off to fight." He snorted, and then sighed. "Too bad his arm isn't getting any better. That damage looks permanent."

This worried Shulk. "I hope not. I mean, Dunban's the only one who can wield the Monado. If we ever get attacked by the Mechon again..."

Dickson glanced at him. _Do you think so, Shulk?_ "Would you have him use that blasted sword again after what it's done to him?"

Shulk flinched. "I – of course not."

They reached the Central Plaza. Dickson grunted. "I'll be seeing you, Shulk. I've got an old friend to catch up with. He's started up a stall in town. Just today, in fact." He nodded and started heading down the bridge leading to the Commercial District.

"Uh... See you, Dickson!" The older man raised an arm in acknowledgement without either turning around or stopping. Shulk continued on his way, south towards the Residential District.

He glanced over the side of the bridge that connected the Central Plaza to the Residential District. The Central Plaza and the three districts were all situated on flat beds of rock separated by water, over which was a bridge for each district. Shulk pulled out one of the gems given to him by the Gem Man and started toying with it in his hands as he walked.

At the entrance to the district he saw the mobile artillery that was causing so much headache for the Colonel. It was embedded in a building and smoking slightly. A couple of soldiers were making sure no one was going anywhere near the machine.

Shulk ambled through town, aiming for his favourite spot in the whole colony. He stared at the ground as he walked, deep in thought about the Monado.

_There are eight different layers of glass,_ he thought. _Does that mean the Monado has eight different abilities?_ Shulk thought this likely. Assuming, of course, that he was correct in thinking that each layer represented its own power.

From what Dunban and Dickson had told him, it seemed the Monado currently had two abilities. Buster was an extremely powerful attack which became even stronger when used against Mechon. The other, Enchant, allowed any weapon in the vicinity of the Monado to do damage to Mechon without the need to Topple it. For a short amount of time, at any rate.

Shulk decided that it was probably Enchant which was more useful. _I wonder if all the Monado's abilities are specific to Mechon?_ Shulk wasn't sure, but he guessed so. The sword was, after all, famous for being able to defeat Mechon. _And how would one go about activating the other six functions?_

Shulk shook his head as he crossed the bridge taking him out of town. He smiled as he watched the Bunnits hopping around in the grass. Humming to himself, he turned left and made his way leisurely to Outlook Park.

At his home near the entrance to Colony 9, Dunban was sitting up in bed examining his damaged right arm.

"Dunban, are you awake yet?"

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Is it time to eat already?" He watched his sister ascend the stairs. "You didn't have to bring it yourself. You could have just called me."

Fiora placed the tray of food on the small table beside him. "Don't be silly!" She crouched down beside the bed, watching him. "Do you want me to feed you?"

Dunban laughed. "Don't treat me like an invalid. I'm better than I was a year ago."

"Much better," Fiora agreed. She turned and leaned on the bed, her green eyes staring up at the ceiling. "I really thought I lost you back then..."

"Yes. But now I'm almost well enough to handle the Monado again."

Fiora jumped off the floor as if it were burning and spun to face her brother, her light blonde hair whipping about her face. "Dunban, don't say that!" She exclaimed furiously. "The Mechon have gone now! Why would you say that?"

Dunban eyed her warily. "I just mean I'm prepared. Sorry." He looked away.

Fiora relented. "OK." Sounding cheery again, she said, "More importantly, eat up before it gets cold. I made something really special today."

Dunban was amused. "Don't feel like you need to stay here then, Fiora." He eased into his pillows. "Go and make your next delivery." When Fiora sounded confused, he continued, "Well, I'm sure you'd like Shulk to try some while it's still hot?"

Fiora immediately lowered herself back to the ground. "That's OK. Shulk has no sense of taste. He'll say it's delicious even if it's stone cold."

Dunban laughed. "In which case, today he would actually mean it."

"Mmm, maybe."

"I'm _fine_, Fiora. Off you go."

She thought about it for a moment before getting to her feet. "OK." She turned to look at her brother. "Dunban... Thanks," she said gratefully. She left him and went downstairs.

When she was gone, Dunban pulled his crippled arm into his chest and crawled across the bed to his dinner, panting. Frowning with concentration, he picked up the spoon with his injured limb. He lost his grip and it clattered to the floor.

"I- I'm not finished yet." He looked down at the picture of himself, Mumkhar and Dickson sitting on his dresser. "I have to be prepared to use the Monado again."

Fiora had just stepped outside with Shulk's food when Dickson saw her.

"Hey, Fiora!"

"Dickson!" She was glad to see him.

"Looks like you're in a hurry," he observed. "Where are you off to?"

"I just thought I'd take Shulk some food," she replied. "I'm on my way to the lab."

"Shulk's not there right now," Dickson informed her.

"Really?" Fiora was surprised; when was Shulk _not _at the lab?

"I just sent him out to get some fresh air. You know where he'll have gone."

"Outlook Park!" Everyone knew that Shulk loved that place.

"That's the one," Dickson confirmed with a nod.

"OK." She was glad he'd told her and saved her the extra trip. "Thanks, Dickson." Dickson left, his braid bouncing slightly as he walked.

Fiora exited the colony and turned left, heading for Outlook Park. She climbed the stone steps leading upwards. She dodged the bunnits that hopped towards her curiously, sniffing the air. When she arrived, she found him sitting on the bench facing the colony, staring at the ground.

Deep in thought, Shulk didn't notice her approaching. "The Monado... It's the only sword that's effective against the Mechon armour." He remembered the many tales he had heard about the blade. "They say that before time began, it was wielded by the Bionis." He tried to wrap his head around the idea. "The same Bionis that we all live on."

"It must have a secret," he decided. "That's how Dunban was able to destroy so many Mechon. And why he lost the use of his right arm." He thought back to when Dunban had returned from that crusade. "If I can just unlock the secret of its power..."

"Shulk!"

He snapped back to the present and looked up. To his surprise, Fiora was standing in front of him, holding up a wooden lunch box. "Fiora!"

She sat down beside him and gave him the food. He immediately started to eat. "This is great!" He loved Fiora's cooking. "It tastes so good."

"Really?" Fiora was sceptical.

"It's amazing!"

"Oh, Shulk," Fiora sighed, leaning back on the bench, "you say that every day."

Shulk paused. "Not quite." He took another bite of his sandwich. "It's always delicious. But today, it's amazing."

"Oh, really?" Fiora gasped.

"Yeah." Shulk kept eating.

"Thank goodness!" Fiora's fear concerning Shulk's taste buds abated - for now. "I used some special herbs and spices today. So if you said it was just the same as usual, I'd know for sure you had no sense of taste!"

Her last comment puzzled him. "What?"

Fiora shook her head, looking out over the colony. "Oh, nothing." Shulk went back to his food. She looked around, taking in the sights. "The breeze feels so good," she murmured, sedate.

Shulk looked up at the sky. "Yeah." Smiling, he said, "I'd forgotten what it feels like. I never thought it could be so quiet here."

"You're spending too much time with Reyn," she told him. "You're getting used to all the noise he makes."

"Yeah, maybe," said Shulk, starting to laugh.

Fiora giggled, and then looked back out across the colony. "It's so peaceful. You know, Shulk," she cocked her head to one side, "I hope every day can be like this, always."

Shulk was still smiling softly, savouring the moment. They both started when a dull alarm sounded throughout the area. "The debris siren."

"Strange," Fiora commented. "There hasn't been much falling lately." They watched as the Anti-Air Batteries fired into the air, exploding on contact with their target in spectacular fashion.

Shulk pushed himself off the bench as Fiora packed up the leftover food. "There might be more on the way. The Anti-Air Batteries can't protect us out here." He stared up at the sky. "Let's get back to the lab."

"OK," Fiora agreed. Despite herself, she couldn't help but pause by the railing. "Hey, Shulk..." He looked back at her, eager to return. "You remember that time we watched the sun rise, right here?" He frowned. "It was when we were quite young."

"Yeah, I remember," he answered slowly, walking back towards her. "We came because you and Dunban had a big falling out."

"Yeah." Fiora nodded. "It wasn't pretty." Cautious, she added, "Really it had nothing to do with you... But I still dragged you out and made you stay up all night."

"I'm glad we did it, even though it was only that one time. We talked for hours and hours about all our hopes and dreams..." Shulk felt himself warming up inside as he recalled the details. "And then you fell asleep on my arm as we looked up at the stars."

"...Oh no!" Fiora began to panic.

Shulk was startled. "What? What is it?"

Fiora looked down at the ground. _Oh, Shulk! I have this terrible feeling I said something really embarrassing. _She fought to keep herself from blushing. _Like I wanted to get married?_

She met his worried gaze. "Umm... Shulk?" she began timidly. "You don't... remember what I said back then?"

"Kind of," he replied thoughtfully, "I can't quite put my finger on it. Hold on, I know I'll get it."

"Oh, er, don't worry!" Fiora said hastily. "No need to remember. Forget I even brought it up. Anyway, that's the end of that conversation! Let's talk about something else."

Shulk may have been confused, but he hid it well. "OK. Whatever you say, Fiora."

Relief washed over Fiora. _Yes! I think I pulled it off. He doesn't suspect a thing. I hope he remembers one day... But for now... it's just a bit too embarrassing!_

Shulk waited but Fiora remained quiet. Gently, he said, "Fiora? Shall we go back to the lab?"

She jumped. "Oh, sure, Shulk, let's go!" She walked with him back towards the colony.


	3. Tephra Cave

**_I went back and edited the first two chapters with descriptions of characters, terrain and Mechon. Thank you to my commentators for reminding me, I always forget that stuff. If you have ANY input at all, PLEASE let me know in the comments or via PM. I like hearing other people's ideas._**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles, the wonderful Wii game from Monolith Soft, **_which Operation Rainfall successfully campaigned for a worldwide release_**, from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

**_Criticism is appreciated so long as it is CONSTRUCTIVE. **_Also, let me know if I've made any typos or grammatical errors. And if you think something should be changed, added, removed, or could be done better, let me know and I'll take it into consideration._**Comments telling me why it sucks without an explanation will be ignored. Thanks~_**

Shulk was still trying to remember what Fiora had said to him as a child when they entered the Lab and Fiora's voice again interrupted his thoughts.

"Reyn?"

Shulk looked up, and was horrified to see his best friend reaching for the Monado. "Reyn!" Shulk was furious. "What are you doing!"

"Sh – Shulk!" Reyn stammered. "I – I'm – No, I – I – I'm just..." His voice trailed off as the Monado began to glow. He stared at the blade, unable to stop it seizing control of him. He felt a sense of detachment from his own body, only able to look on in terror as his arm brought the sword down on Shulk, who thankfully managed to sidestep the blow.

Fiora and Shulk cried out as the pale blue blade of the Monado activated in Reyn's hands. He staggered towards one of the gas tanks and sliced it cleanly open, twirling around the room. He then made a clean cut in Shulk's other gas tank, before slamming into it on his back. The Monado waved through the air, forcing Reyn towards the corner where Fiora was standing.

"Fiora!" Reyn cried. The Monado cut straight through the machine Fiora was hiding behind. She cringed as the weapon hit her leg – and bounced right off it.

Reyn whirled around as the Monado flicked out of his hands. He fell on to his back and the Monado clattered to the floor. Deprived of a wielder, the pale blue blade disappeared as the main part of the Monado closed itself and the blue symbol slowly faded.

"Reyn!" Shulk ran towards him.

Fiora came out from behind her broken hiding place, looking down at her hands in shock. "Goodness!" She watched Reyn get to his feet, shaking his head.

"Fiora!" Reyn spun around to face her. "Are you OK?"

"Uhh..." Fiora looked up, unsure. "I'm fine." _Somehow._

"Ahh..." Shulk sounded frustrated, "It's broken!" He turned away from his gas tank and bent down beside the Monado.

"What do you mean it's broken?" Fiora was indignant. "Don't you care about me? I could have died!"

"You're not hurt, are you?" said Shulk, unconcerned. "The Monado can't cut people. More importantly," Shulk glared at Reyn over his shoulder, "What were you thinking, Reyn?"

"S – Sorry." Reyn felt uncomfortable. "I came to ask a favour but you weren't here." Reyn knew it sounded stupid even as he started saying it. "And I saw the Monado and –"

"I know I'm here a lot," Shulk interrupted rudely. "But even I need fresh air sometimes."

He ran a hand over the sword as his anger and shock slowly faded. "Is your body still feeling numb?" he asked.

Reyn opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it and returned his attention to the floor.

"We have to be very careful with the Monado." Shulk straightened up. "It's not a toy."

"I know, man," Reyn said quickly, "I just wanted to touch it. I didn't know it would do that." He raised a hand to his head, feeling ashamed. "Sorry." He looked back down at the sword. Despite what had just happened, he couldn't contain his curiosity. "But is it true? The Monado really can't cut people?"

"The pattern in that circle..." Shulk stared at it, entranced. "Or, maybe it's a symbol?" The sword appeared to be quivering as he bent down to pick it up. "I think it shows which power the Monado has at the moment."

"You think it's... a symbol?" Reyn turned as his friend walked past him, being careful so as not to make him angry again.

"Well..." Shulk gazed down at the sword in his hands, his mind on his recent research, "if I can find a way to increase the number of symbols," he raised his head, thinking aloud, "I should..."

"I'm sure that's all very clever," said Fiora angrily, breaking into the conversation. "But!" She folded her arms, watching him with narrowed eyes. "Why were you more worried about a machine than me, Shulk?"

"Well, I just..." Shulk began to back away from Fiora, "I just explained why."

"That's not the point!" Fiora exclaimed, taking a threatening step towards Shulk.

"S – Sorry!" Shulk stuttered. He backed into the Monado's pedestal, accidentally bumping the sword into it. It sprang to life, and Shulk immediately felt the pull on his mind.

Fiora watched, terrified, as Shulk doubled over and let out a low groan, clutching the Monado tightly. Electricity of a colour matching the blade of the Monado danced across both the sword and Shulk's body as he struggled to regain control. He let out another groan as foreign images and sounds invaded his mind, each seeming to stack on top of the others.

"Look at you!" Shulk saw himself, using the Monado to block someone else's blade. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and it filled him with a sense of anger. "Worthless without the Monado!" The images changed, and Shulk was standing before a giant with red eyes and purple skin, looking down at him and covered in a yellow-orange light.

The voice changed with his vision, and he saw a raven-haired woman aiming a rifle at an unseen target. She was yelling, and her voice was full of fury and desperation. "Until I've scrapped each and every one of you!" For a moment he saw a grey-coloured man who looked as if he were part machine. The vision changed again, and he saw a brown-skinned man with a white beard shouting as he piloted what looked like a mobile artillery.

As this vision appeared the voice changed, and Shulk realised it was his own. "So, of course I want to get my revenge!" He saw a beautiful girl, standing in the middle of a large forest. There was a huge ether deposit behind her.

"Your blade..." A deep voice interrupted as he saw an ancient-looking man, who appeared to have wings sprouting from the top of his head. He turned away as the image changed and the voice continued. "It did not cut deep enough."

He saw himself yelling, and watched as a huge Mechon sank its claws into Colony 9's mobile artillery. "NOOOOOO!" The claws of the Mechon dripped with blood as it stared down at him with contempt.

And then all went white.

"Shulk!" Fiora watched as Shulk dropped the Monado and stood doubled over, panting. "Shulk!"

"What on Bionis happened there?" Reyn demanded, panicking.

"Reyn," Shulk mumbled, "Fiora..."

"Are you OK?" Fiora asked, relaxing a little as Shulk righted himself. "Does it hurt?"

"No." Shulk shook his head, thinking. After a moment, he looked up at Reyn. "Reyn, when you held the Monado, did you see anything?"

"You know..." Reyn wasn't sure what Shulk was asking. "Like, a blue blade of light came out. Same as just now."

"I don't mean that..." Shulk paused as he tried to find a way to describe it. "A feeling like time had stopped. And then..."

"Time had stopped?" Reyn repeated, confused.

"So..." Shulk looked over at Fiora, "was it only me who saw that?"

Fiora frowned. "That sounds strange. Is it another Monado thing?"

"Who knows?" said Reyn dismissively. "Anyway, no matter how good a sword it is, if that's what happened when you hold it..." Reyn looked down at Shulk. "Looks like Dunban really is the only one who can use it."

Fiora rounded on Reyn, furious. "I _won't_ let my brother use it ever again!" She looked down at the floor. "Not after what it did to him."

"Oh, sorry..." Reyn felt embarrassed. "I didn't mean it like that..."

"Anyway," Shulk said in a weak voice, "the point is, I'm fine. To be honest, this has happened a few times before. I've been researching the Monado for a long time."

"Shulk!" Fiora exclaimed. "Don't act as is this is nothing!"

"Look, don't worry about it." Shulk turned to Reyn. "Anyway, Reyn, what did you want to ask me about?"

"Ah, yeah. Uhh..." Reyn tried to remember. "Old Square-tache has gone and put me on punishment duty. Fancy tagging along?"

"Punishment?" Shulk repeated. "The colonel was pretty angry today. Did he hit you?" Shulk suppressed a grin.

"Well, whether he hit me is neither here nor there, really..." Reyn raised a hand to his head as he added, "Although actually he did end up hitting me. And that ain't all. He made me do a thousand squats and sit-ups."

"Whoa, nasty."

"Yeah. And now I have to go all the way to the Mag Mell Ruins and back."

"So you have to go and collect the Ether Cylinders?" Shulk guessed.

"That's the one!" said Reyn. "They're used to power the mobile artillery. It looks like the damage has been repaired. But it can't move without the ether energy. And it seems like the fuelling station's all out of stock."

"Is the mobile artillery that big machine that crashed in the Residential District?" Fiora asked.

"Yeah, probably," said Shulk with a nod.

"You know your way around there, right?" Reyn asked.

"Yeah," replied Shulk. "Okay, I'll go with you."

"Yeah!" Reyn grinned. "Knew you would!"

"Hold on." Fiora placed her hands on her hips, eyeing the boys. "The Mag Mell Ruins are in Tephra Cave, right? I heard that there's a Mell Lizard nest there." Fiora shivered at the thought of it. "I couldn't take it if anything happened to Shulk. He's delicate – not like you, Reyn."

"What are you on about?" Reyn was quick to jump to his friend's defence.

"I'll be fine," said Shulk, annoyed. "I can take care of myself."

"But..." Fiora hesitated.

"OK, I got it. I'll make you a promise." Reyn held a hand over his heart and pledged, "Shulk won't even get a scratch."

"A promise doesn't mean much coming from you!" Fiora exclaimed, and left.

Reyn watched her go. "Hmph. She don't trust me at all."

"Nah, she doesn't mean it," Shulk assured him. The two friends left the lab to go prepare for their trip.

Fiora watched from behind a stack of crates as Shulk and Reyn left the Military District empty-handed. _I knew it! They forgot the transport cases! _Giggling to herself, Fiora waited until the boys had left the district before skipping over to Colonel Vangarre.

"Excuse me, Colonel?" said Fiora politely.

He turned. "What can I help you with, young lady?" He asked cheerfully.

"Um, I heard you asked Reyn to go into the Mag Mell Ruins to get some ether cylinders, but it looks like he forgot the transport cases..."

The colonel snorted. "That sounds about right! He's about as bright as a bunnit, that one."

"Well," said Fiora eagerly, "I could catch him on his way out of the colony and give them to him."

"Why, that would be most helpful, young lady!" exclaimed the colonel. "Go talk to old Jan over there by the fence, he'll get them for you." He pointed out an old man standing by the eastern fence who was watching a group of soldiers performing fitness routines.

Fiora walked over to the man and asked for some transport cases. He sighed.

"Why would they send a pretty lady such as yourself out to the ruins, when there are so many men here who can do it?" He gestured at the soldiers doing press-ups behind him.

"Actually, a friend of mine is going, but he... forgot them." Fiora smiled. "He's very thick-headed. He _never_ thinks things through."

Jan chuckled. "All right then." He reached into a crate beside him and pulled out three transport cases before handing them to Fiora. "Be careful, and don't push yourself too hard!"

Fiora slung them over her back. "I won't! Thank you!" She hurried off.

Fiora thought that Reyn and Shulk would have gone back to Reyn's place in the Residential District to pick up a few things. This, she figured, should buy her enough time to beat the boys to Tephra Cave, and then tag along with them to the ruins. After all, if they got attacked by that lizard, they were _going_ to need her help.

Fiora chuckled to herself as she took off through the central plaza and the commercial district. Just before leaving the colony she dashed back into her home.

Dunban looked up from the kitchen as she entered. "Fiora! Woah, slow down. What's the big hurry?"

"No time to explain!" Fiora picked up her twin knives off the table and slid them in her belt. "See you later Dunban!" And she ran back out again.

Dunban shook his head. _That girl... I bet Shulk is involved in this somehow. _He went back to cleaning the dishes.

Fiora left the colony and headed up Tephra Hill at a cracking pace. _Oh, I hope they're not there already..._ The bunnits watched as she flew past them.

Fiora stopped at the top of the hill, panting heavily. The two soldiers on guard looked startled to see her.

"Have... two boys... come up here... A thick-headed redhead and a blonde?"

"Uhh... no." The soldier moved towards her. "Do you want me to take those cases off your back?"

Fiora shook her head and straightened up, clutching the transport cases closer to her. "I'm fine, thank you!" She walked straight past the soldier and leaned on the stone just inside the cave mouth, placing the cases on the ground beside her.

"Hey! It's dangerous in there!" The soldier protested.

"I'm waiting for a couple of friends, and one of them is in the defence force," Fiora answered coolly. "I won't go in without them."

The soldier hesitated, and then resumed his post outside the cave.

Fiora had not been waiting long when she head Shulk and Reyn's loud voices coming up the hill. They stopped when they came around the corner and saw her. Reyn looked at Shulk with a worried expression on his face.

Fiora picked up the transport cases and strolled towards the boys. "You forgot something," she chimed. "You will be needing the transport cases, right?" She held them up, smiling.

"Fiora!" Shulk was surprised to see her. Reyn reached for the cases, but Fiora pulled them away from him.

"Uh-uh! I'm coming along as well," Fiora informed them. "I'd feel better going with you boys than sitting at home worrying about you. So," she skulked into the cave, "let's get moving."

Reyn sighed. "I knew she didn't trust me."

"Looks like it," grinned Shulk. Reyn placed his hands behind his head and followed Fiora with Shulk.

Fiora glanced back as the boys caught up to her. Before either of them could say a word, she dropped the transport cases into Reyn's arms. "Since _you_ were the one who brought us here, I think it's only fair that _you _should be the one to carry them!"

Reyn struggled to stop himself from dropping anything. "Hey, no one asked you to come!" He retorted. He got a firm grip on each of the cases and tossed them over his back.

"Are we ready to get moving yet?" Fiora asked, smirking.

Reyn grumbled and followed Shulk down the long, dark passageway leading deeper into the cave. When they came out to a more open area, Fiora noticed that the cave walls were mostly black and blue. She shivered, wishing she had brought warmer clothes.

"How far is it?" she asked as bunnits scampered out of their way.

"Not far," said Shulk, pointing straight ahead. "There's another passage down there, but it's shorter than the last one. Then we just follow the cave until we get to the ether cylinders."

Something glinted on Shulk's arm. Fiora frowned. "Hey Shulk... you don't normally wear a watch, do you?"

"What are you... Oh." Shulk held up his right arm. A golden watch shined there on his wrist. "This isn't mine, it belongs to Desiree. She's a friend of mine, and she asked me to repair it." He laughed. "I've had it for almost a week now, I keep forgetting to return it to her."

"Quiet!" Reyn hissed, and pointed straight ahead. The small passageway had opened up again. A giant caterpile was lying in some patches of weed – how the weed was growing inside the cave, Fiora didn't know. It was surrounded by lots of smaller caterpiles. There was rock hanging over it, stretching from one wall to the other.

"It's a caterpile nest," Reyn whispered. Shulk led them off to the left; there was a gap in the wall there. "The little ones are all right, but the big one will attack us as soon as we get anywhere near it." Fiora followed Shulk and Reyn through the gap in the wall. The path took a slight uphill slant.

"This path will take us above the caterpile," Shulk informed Fiora. "It can't attack us up here." They found themselves on the rock that was hanging over the nest. It followed through to the opposite wall and curved out of sight.

Reyn kicked a rock off their bridge, which bounced off the wall and hit the caterpile's tail. The creature suddenly started moving towards them, the other, smaller caterpiles following suit.

"Reyn, what have you done!" Fiora shouted, panicked.

"Calm down, it can't get us all the way up here!" Reyn tried not to laugh at her reaction.

He was right. Try as it might, the caterpile could not find any way to climb the wall to get to them. Eventually it gave up and went back to its resting spot.

"Should we do it again?" Reyn asked, grinning.

"NO!" said Fiora loudly. Her voice echoed down the cave. The three of them flinched.

"Oi, keep your voice down," Reyn whispered. He drew his weapon, and so did Shulk. Fiora pulled out her knives, nervously twirling them in her fingers. They passed through the gap in the wall opposite them which took them downhill and back on to the main path, past more bunnits, skeeters and brogs.

The rocky walls changed to metal as they came upon a large area filled with what looked like storage containers. Directly opposite their entrance was a flight of stairs leading upwards. "Are these the Mag Mell Ruins?" Fiora wondered.

"Haven't you been here before?" Reyn asked with surprise.

Fiora shook her head. "Nope."

"The Defence Force often uses it for training," said Shulk, "But I often come here to do research. It's... not really a place that people go."

"Not surprising," Reyn commented. "There are monsters around here that use Mechon parts as armour."

"Was this built by the Mechon?" Fiora enquired.

"I don't think so," Shulk answered. "There's a path for people to get in. It might have been a vehicle of some kind."

"Like the Defence Force hover transports?" Reyn asked.

"A vehicle?" Fiora repeated. "But it's so big..."

"It's amazing technology," said Shulk fondly. "I wonder what kind of people made it."

"I ain't got a clue." Reyn shrugged.

"Let's keep moving." Shulk looked towards the stairs. "The Ether Cylinders are up ahead."

"Right!" Reyn led the way to the stairs, which they quickly climbed. The path branched at the top, and there was a soldier standing guard. To the right was a door with a green circle on it, and to the left, a door with a red circle.

"Huh, one of the doors is locked." Shulk couldn't think why. "It doesn't matter, we're not going that way anyway." And he led them to the door on their right, which opened as they approached it.

They paused when they walked through the door; Mell Lizards were everywhere. "See," Fiora whispered, "I _told_ you there was a lizard nest here!"

Shulk placed a finger to his lips and started walking off to the left, his sword at the ready. Fiora and Reyn followed him. Reyn accidentally stepped on a lizard's tail; the creature started and ran off in the opposite direction and around the corner. A low growl and shuffling of large feet was heard.

The three friends jumped and took off down the cold metal corridor. Fiora glanced back just as they rounded a corner and saw a huge, brown lizard pursuing them.

The walls surrounding changed from metal back to blue-black stone. They kept running until they reached a u-turn in the path and looked back. The lizard was not there, apparently satisfied that they would not be returning.

"Whew... now that was close!" Reyn laughed. He stopped when he realised Shulk and Fiora were glaring at him. "What?"

"That was _your fault_!" said Fiora angrily.

"What do you mean it was my fault?" Reyn demanded.

"You were the one who stepped on that lizard's tail!" exclaimed Shulk.

"I..." Reyn stopped what he was going to say and swallowed hard. "All right, all right. I'm sorry, okay!"

"Just be more careful, Reyn." Shulk looked up the path ahead of them; he could see light. "Come on, we're nearly there." He led the way out of the cave.

They came out on to grass. To the east they could see the entire colony; Fiora was able to spot her house. Opposite that to the right was the Cylinder Hangar which contained all of the Ether cylinders.

"Right here!" said Reyn happily. "Thanks for the help, Shulk."

_Hey, what about me? _thought Fiora.

"I'll start collecting them up," Reyn went on, "You two hold on a sec." Reyn led them into the hangar and started placing cylinders into the transport cases. The walls were covered in circular holes, some of them empty, some of them with an Ether Cylinder sitting inside of them.

"It's full of Ether Cylinders..." Fiora murmured in wonder. "Hey," she said suddenly, "why do we have to come all the way out here to get them? Isn't there an Ether Cylinder fuelling station in the colony?"

"Well... Refining the ether takes a long time down there, and sometimes cylinderisation fails." Shulk shrugged. "And there are so many cylinders here for us already. It's more reliable than making them ourselves."

"Right," Reyn butt in. "_And_ Colony 9's Anti-Air Batteries and mobile artillery are standardised for these cylinders, so they can be used straight away." He went back to filling the transport cases.

"I see." Fiora turned back to Shulk. "You know, this place is in good condition considering it's ancient."

"It might be... That there's some form of technology being used to preserve it." Shulk faced the wall again. "It's just a shame we don't understand its secret."

"Shulk...?"

"But I'll solve it one day and show you," Shulk said with confidence, almost to himself. "If it's just technology that someone created in the past, it's not incomprehensible. We'll come to understand it one day."

"Don't go trying too hard," said Reyn. "We can come and get Ether Cylinders whenever we need them. Besides," he added, "it's a good place for Defence Force training."

"Yeah," grinned Fiora, "so good that you didn't even want to come here without Shulk to back you up! Anyway," she looked up at Reyn, "did you collect the cylinders?"

"Yep. All done. Thanks."

"Just come by yourself from now on."

"Shh," said Shulk suddenly, "be quiet..."

The three friends looked up sharply as a hole opened up in the roof and two white machines floated down from it. They had a central part which vaguely resembled a homs body, and little stubs at the bottom which could have been legs. Surrounding this was what looked like arms, except they curved right around it and met up above the head. The centre of it was glowing red.

Fiora gasped. "Are they Mechon?"

Shulk felt dread creeping into him. "I don't know. But it looks like we'll have to destroy them!" He started edging forward, drawing his sword. The others followed suit.

"In that case," growled Reyn, "just leave them to me!"

"Focus on one at a time!" called Shulk. "If we work together, we can do this!"

Reyn charged the machine closest to him and started to attack it. He cried out as he was blasted back. He growled and got back on to his feet as the ancient machines hovered towards him.

Shulk jumped behind one of them and spun to hit it with a Turn Strike. Reyn grinned.

"Wild Down!" The machine fell on to the ground, struggling to get up.

"Screw... Edge!" The machine on the ground stopped moving, seemingly dazed. Shulk and Fiora attacked it while Reyn distracted the other one. Shulk's blade cut through one of the two places holding the outer limb to the inner body; with a wild cry, he sliced the other one cleanly through and the machine fell to pieces. Shulk and Fiora ran to help Reyn.

"Yeah! Now it's Reyn time!" Reyn was grinning fiercely as he hacked at the machine.

"You seem to be getting into this, Reyn," grinned Shulk. Fiora rolled her eyes as they finished off the second machine, panting.

"Fiora, are you OK?" asked Shulk.

"I'm fine." Fiora nodded. "How about you?"

"I'm all right," replied Shulk. "Thanks to you and Reyn."

Satisfied that his friends were unharmed, Reyn turned to look at the dismantled machines. "What on Bionis were those! I've never seen anything like them."

"Could they have been Mechon?" Fiora wondered.

Shulk began walking forwards. "No." He bent down beside one of the ancient machines. "I think they were something left by the civilisation that built this vehicle."

"They didn't seem like Mechon to me," Reyn commented. "But why did they only show up now?"

"I don't know," muttered Shulk. "But they were probably built to protect this place. They might have been activated in response to something." He straightened up. "But I don't think that something could have been us."

"Please, let's go back," Fiora begged. "I don't wanna be here anymore."

"Me neither," Shulk agreed. "And we've already got the Ether Cylinders." He paused, thinking he had heard something odd. He and the others turned to look outside as a high-pitched noise reached their ears.

"What's going on?" Reyn demanded.

"Listen!" exclaimed Fiora. "What is that?"

"That sound..." muttered Shulk, and ran outside, the others close behind him. Suddenly he looked up. "In the sky!"

A huge machine trailing blue light flew into sight, over the mountains surrounding the colony. It circled above the districts, far out of reach of any of their weapons.

They looked back to where it had come from, and saw hovercrafts invading the colony.

"It's a..." began Shulk.

"This can't be!" gasped Fiora.

"No way!" Reyn was in shock. Attached to the bottom of the hovercraft, in their dozens, were...

"Mechon!" Shulk watched as the hovercrafts slowly made their way towards his home.

"How?" Fiora watched in horror as they launched from above on to the ground. "Didn't my brother destroy them all a year ago?"

A thought struck Shulk, and he said slowly, "Could that defence mechanism have responded to the Mechon?"

"Let's get back to the colony!" Reyn interrupted.

"Come on!" Shulk took off into Tephra Cave at a sprint. Fiora and Reyn were right behind him the whole time as he ran, ignoring the lizards, the brogs, the skeeters and the bunnits, all the while wondering _why_ the Mechon were suddenly launching an attack on the colony, and how on Bionis they had managed to get their numbers back up.


	4. Mechon Attack!

**_**_I've created a Facebook group for the sole purpose of getting people together to help me work on this novelisation. If you want to join, just run a search for "Xenoblade Chronicles Novelisation", or PM me for a link._**_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles, the wonderful Wii game from Monolith Soft, which Operation Rainfall successfully campaigned for a worldwide release, from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

A siren resounded across Colony 9. Residents across all three districts stopped what they were doing to look up to the sky.

"Hey!" exclaimed a man. "This siren... It sounds different."

"Yeah," agreed another man, "isn't this Siren 2?"

"It can't be," murmured one of the soldiers guarding the mobile artillery. Dread filled him as he saw large black shapes in the sky. "The Mechon?" Even as he uttered it, the populace started to panic as small black shapes fell from the larger ones. A huge Mechon zoomed between its falling brethren, patrolling the airspace above the colony.

"One large Mechon!" a hysterical soldier shouted into his communicator. "Ten carriers! And an unknown number of units emerging from the carriers!"

"You idiots!" Colonel Vangarre yelled back from the Military District. "Why didn't you see this lot until they were right on top of us?"

"But Sir!" the soldier protested. "We thought the Mechon had all been wiped ou-" his voice turned into a scream as a ball of blue energy exploded on contact with Anti-Air Battery 2.

The line went dead. "Oi!" shouted the colonel. "What's happening? Respond!" Vangarre cursed and thumped the metal container beside him in frustration. He spoke into the intercom again. "Anti-Air Batteries 1 to 3! _Why_ aren't my targeting systems online? _Don't_ let a single one into the colony!"

He immediately jumped off the container and grabbed a passing soldier, spinning him around. "Assemble everyone who can fight!" he ordered. "Evacuate the civilians to the shelter!" He thrust the soldier away from him. "Get a move on!" he roared.

"Yes Sir!" The soldier jumped to attention before running off.

"Fire at will!" cried a soldier in one of the remaining Batteries. Smoke lit up the sky as Mechon were shot down before they could reach the ground.

The military watched breathlessly as Anti-Air Battery 3 loosed a shot at one of the Mechon carriers. A cheer rose up inside the control room as it exploded. "We got it!"

The dust cleared. "No, wait!" The soldiers were dismayed to see the carrier still very much intact. A large Mechon was hovering in front of the carrier, and it didn't appear to be even the slightest bit damaged. "What the..? Our weapons don't work on them at all!"

The Mechon's shape changed; where before it had looked like some kind of airship, now it took on a humanoid appearance, complete with what could have been arms and legs. Four long, silver claws protruded from the ends of its arm-like appendages and a shining blue cone-shaped tail stuck out from behind it. The pointed laser on its head lifted like a veil, revealing to all what was unmistakeably a _face_ – silver, with a gaping black hole for a mouth and red circles for each of its two eyes.

The colonel slowly lowered his intercom, for once stunned into silence.

"What type of Mechon is that?" demanded a horrified soldier. "I've never seen one like it!"

Snapping back into focus, Vangarre shouted into his communicator: "You slackers, fire! Shoot it down!"

The Batteries immediately complied, but the faced Mechon dodged their bullets and swooped down to Anti-Air Battery 3, running his claws along it so it exploded in a great fireball.

The first wave of Mechon dropped into the Colony. Dunban raised himself from his bed, gritting his teeth at the pain in his right arm. He made his way toward the stairs.

Shulk, Reyn and Fiora came running into Colony 9 just in time to see a Mechon M72 pick up a man in its claws. It left as they crossed the bridge, and they stopped in front of Fiora's house.

"They're eating people!" A shudder shook Shulk.

"It's horrible!" Fiora felt sick.

"Is Dunban OK?" Shulk looked up at the house.

"Fiora! Go and check on him!" said Reyn urgently.

"O- OK!" Fiora quickly ran into her house to find her brother.

As she left, a Mechon M63 stalked over from the Central Plaza, spinning its claws in a challenge to the boys.

"Heads up, Reyn!" Shulk pulled out his weapon as Reyn did the same.

"If this thing wants a fight," growled Reyn, "let's give it one!"

Reyn ran up to the Mechon, vainly hitting its leg with his weapon to distract it. Shulk snuck up behind the machine. "Turn... Strike! Reyn, now!"

Reyn jumped back to avoid an attack. He leapt forward and with a wild cry, took a swipe at the machine's legs. "Going down!" He and Shulk backed away from the Toppled Mechon. "See?" Reyn laughed. "Didn't stand a chance!"

"It's not that easy!" Shulk replied. "We've disabled it, but only for now. It'll reactivate soon!"

At that moment, Fiora came running out to meet them. She was startled to see the Mechon lying on the ground.

"Where's Dunban?" Shulk asked quickly.

"He's gone!" Fiora panted. "I can't find him anywhere."

"What?" Reyn was alarmed. "He ain't fit enough to face these things!"

"Reyn!" said Shulk sharply. "Let's get to the lab!"

"The lab?" Reyn repeated. "Of course!" he grinned. "The Monado's there!"

"Exactly," Shulk nodded. "The Monado can take out Mechon." He, Reyn and Fiora ran into the Commercial District and then slowed down. It was crawling with Mechon; there was not a place they could go where they would not be attacked by any of them.

The trio turned left at the entrance to the district, slowly making their way around the outside to avoid any fighting. Shulk felt nervous as they edged around one of the M82; the machine stared straight ahead, failing to notice the Homs that were sneaking around it.

As they came around the corner where the Gem Man's deserted stall sat, they were dismayed to see a small group of Mechon blocking the path to the Central Plaza. There were three: a small, hovering M31 Scout Unit, an M72 and another huge M82. Looking up at the walkway above them, they could see twice as many Mechon up there, all M69 models. It would be faster and more effective, Shulk decided, to take on the group of three.

Shulk glanced around. There was an open warehouse next to the Gem Man's stall, close to where the M31 and M72 Mechon were. It gave him an idea.

"Fiora, Reyn!" Shulk turned to them. "There's no way we're sneaking past these Mechon without them seeing us. We'll lure the two smaller Mechon away from the large one and defeat them there."

"And the big one?" asked Fiora in a small voice.

Shulk hesitated. "We'll have to take it out. There's not enough time to go through the Residential District, and besides, there would probably be Mechon on guard there too."

"All right," said Reyn, "let's do this!"

The three of them ducked into the warehouse next to the stall; in the centre of it was a large cylinder container lying on its side, sitting inside a metal frame to hold it steady. Reyn placed the ether cylinders just inside the metal frame beside the larger cylinder. The M72 was standing near the cylinder with its back turned. Shulk snuck up behind the machine, spinning as he ran to hit it with his Turn Strike. It rounded on Shulk and tried to swipe at him as he jumped back. Reyn dashed in and Toppled it, and together the three of them quickly destroyed the machine before it had a chance to get up.

The trio hid behind the cylinder as Reyn picked up a rock and, taking careful aim, threw it at the M31. The Mechon turned and, seeing Reyn waving at it, sped towards him. Scout Units were all shaped like raindrops with a propeller attached to their pointy tops and a mounted laser fixed to their undersides. Their bottoms curved inwards to contain a single red eye with which they perceived the world around them.

The party quickly destroyed the Scout Unit before setting their grim sights on the M82. Over four times as tall as Reyn, the thing stood barring their way. Shulk noted the sharp curves of its claws, the sickle-like protrusion at the top of its right arm, the perfectly round head sitting atop its small, fat, metallic body.

Reyn turned to Shulk and Fiora. "I'll distract it, and one of you two will have to Break it," he said listlessly. "Then I can Topple it, and we'll finish it off."

Shulk and Fiora were gripped with fear, and it was she who spoke first. "But that's too dangerous! Reyn, you could get seriously hurt!"

"So what else are we gonna do?" Reyn demanded. He looked to Shulk. "I can do this man, trust me." He grinned.

Shulk slowly nodded. "It's the only way."

Noticing Fiora getting angry, Reyn quickly intervened. "Fiora, I can handle this. Trust me." He forced a grin. Fiora hesitated, and then relented with a nod.

Reyn gripped his gunlance tightly, heart pounding. He forced his voice to remain steady. "I'll draw its attention and get it facing the other way. Then you two sneak up and Break it so I can Topple it. Got it?" When the other two nodded, Reyn fixed his eyes on the Mechon before him. "Then let's take this thing down!"

Shulk and Fiora ducked into the warehouse as Reyn charged the M82. Reyn grinned when the creature noticed him and dodged the claw it swung at him. He dashed between its legs and whacked it with his weapon, which bounced right off it. He spun around to face it, watching as it moved quickly towards him.

Shulk dashed out from the warehouse, Fiora in tow. They struck the machine in unison. It swung around, seemingly confused, its flailing claws snipping off the end of Fiora's hair. Reyn shouted, and it turned back to him. He rolled towards it, a claw slamming into the ground where he had stood but a moment ago. Reyn came out of the roll and immediately swept his weapon arm wide, connecting with one of his target's legs. The Mechon fell on its back, crushing the walkway behind it and the M69 that had been roaming it.

Shulk, Reyn and Fiora leapt on to the M82 and started to hack away at it. They jumped backwards when the Mechon began to stir; badly damaged, but still able to fight. "How much damage can it take!" Fiora cried.

Without a word, Reyn scrambled on to the Mechon's body and, with an almighty roar, plunged his weapon into the metal connecting the creature's head to the rest of its body. The head flew off the machine, and it lay still.

Brimming with confidence, the trio quickly took down the handful of Mechon M69 units that had jumped down from the crumbling walkway to attack them.

Reyn was surveying the pile of Mechon scrap when both he and his friends heard shouts coming from the military district. They looked at each other, dreading what was to happen next, before taking off across the bridge towards the central plaza.

"You blasted Mechon!" shouted Colonel Vangarre. "You think you can do what you want in our colony!" Reyn was horrified to see him surrounded by at least a dozen Mechon.

"The colonel!" Reyn cried. "The guys!"

Homs soldiers were lined up in the military district, ready to fight the Mechon. They cried out as the Mechon struck their shields, beating them to the ground. Many soldiers began to flee.

"Men!" roared the colonel. "Don't give up this position! Run, and I'll kill you myself!" He glared at the men running away from the Mechon, furious at the show of cowardice.

The ground beneath Vangarre's feet shook and he swayed as something extremely heavy landed behind him. Turning, he found himself looking at red eyes set into a shining silver face. He laughed. "What the hell are you? A Mechon with a face?" He took a couple of steps back, refusing to break eye contact. "Grin at me, will you!" He pulled his gun around and fired right into its gaping mouth, the recoil from his weapon sending him flying backwards through the air.

Colonel Vangarre quickly looked up and saw the Mechon making its way towards him, completely undamaged. "What!" Didn't even dent it!" The Mechon merely stared at him.

A single M72 unit broke from the ranks of Mechon streaming into the district. It opened up its propellers and slammed them into the colonel, who blocked the attack with his gun. The Mechon pressed against him; the colonel pushed back, gritting his teeth.

The faced Mechon stuck a claw into a large shipping container, which opened up so some spindle-legged Mechon could escape. The colonel screamed as the faced Mechon tossed the container on top of him. The container exploded, and the faced Mechon changed shape before taking to the air.

The trio ran into the military district and quickly picked off the occupying Mechon one by one. They then gathered around the entrance to the lab, which they were dismayed to see had been caved in.

Reyn closed his eyes, seething. "The colonel... the guys... I'm gonna destroy every last one of those _damn_ Mechon!"

Fiora stared hopelessly at the pile of rubble. "The entrance..."

Reyn cried out in frustration. "We'll never get in there now!"

"Wait," said Shulk quickly, "let me think here..." Shulk racked his brain for the solution he knew must exist. He gasped and turned to his friends. "Reyn! Fiora! There's still the mobile artillery!"

"Right!" Reyn exclaimed, suddenly excited. "If we recharge it with those ether cylinders we collected, we can blast our way in!"

"It's in the residential district," Fiora informed the boys.

"Great!" Shulk smiled.

"All right!" Reyn drew himself up tall. "Time to avenge the colonel and the boys!"


	5. Citizen Soldiers

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles, the wonderful Wii game from Monolith Soft, which Operation Rainfall successfully campaigned for a worldwide release, from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Reyn followed Shulk and Fiora as they left the Military District. "I left the ether cylinders in that old warehouse!" he called. "We'll have to swing by and get them first!"

"Got it!" Shulk led them back towards the commercial district. Reyn quickly dashed into the open warehouse and returned with the ether cylinders. Making sure they were securely strapped to his shoulder, Reyn ran with his friends back the way they had come. In the central plaza, the trio made for the bridge that connected it to the residential district. A smile swept across Shulk's face; he could see the mobile artillery on the other side of the bridge.

A Mechon M72 fell from the sky, landing directly in front of the Homs. They skidded to a stop as Mechon rained down from above them.

"What the?" Reyn pulled out his weapon.

"Shulk!" said Fiora urgently. "More from behind!"

Turning, Shulk was dismayed to see a Mechon horde approaching from the commercial district, including an M82 which towered above all the others. He took a deep breath to clear his mind, and unsheathed his sword. The three friends stood in a triangle facing outwards, to better observe the machines.

"Reyn! Looks like you and I will have to cut a path through them."

"Looks like it," growled Reyn. He didn't take his eyes off their approaching foes.

"Fiora! Reyn and I will open up a path. Then you can run through." Shulk braced himself for the argument he knew would come.

"You two can't do this by yourselves!" Fiora protested. "I wanna fight as well!"

"Get through!" said Shulk sharply. "We'll be right behind you!"

"But Shulk..."

"A year ago," Reyn began, glancing at his friends, "Dunban and the Defence Force fought hard to protect the colony and all of us Homs." He looked back to the Mechon. "Now it's our turn to repay them!"

"Please, Fiora," said Shulk gently. Suddenly he turned, raising his sword above his head to block a strike from an M72. Reyn strolled to the side of the creature and shoved it to the ground.

"Shulk... Reyn..." Fiora was afraid to leave the boys alone.

"Don't look so worried," grinned Reyn. "We'll just get rid of these ones." He indicated the Mechon on the ground, struggling to get back up. "Shulk won't get a scratch!" Both he and his best friend quickly took it out before it could get back up.

"OK," Fiora relented. "I believe you."

"Go now, Fiora!" said Shulk quickly.

Reyn quickly pulled off the ether cylinders and handed them to Fiora as she passed him. As she took them from him, she smiled. "You take care too!"

"Of course!" He turned to Shulk as Fiora ran to the mobile artillery. "Looks like she trusts me after all!" he said smugly.

"I told you," Shulk answered warmly. He took in the scene around him; there were so many Mechon. Adrenaline coursed through his body as he prepared himself for the assault. Shulk sincerely hoped Fiora would not be long with the mobile artillery. "Reyn!" he called. "Try not to use up too much energy. We just need to distract them until Fiora comes back."

Suddenly Shulk cried out as he was shot in the back by an ether bullet. Reyn quickly looked around for the attacker; an M31 unit was hovering close to Shulk, its guns trained on him as he began to rise.

"OI!" Reyn bellowed. He dashed towards the machine and brought his weapon down on its head, cracking the piece of metal holding its propellers in place. The propellers spun off the machine and it fell out of the air; Reyn ducked and they flew into another M31's eyepiece, which then dropped to the ground.

Rather pleased with himself, Reyn looked over at Shulk and was alarmed to see an M51 unit making its way towards him; M51 were identical to M69 in appearance, but were weaker than their counterparts. Reyn gave a shout of warning to Shulk, who looked up and just managed to deflect the Mechon's attack; Reyn reached his friend at this point and rammed the machine with his shield, knocking it to the ground. He pulled Shulk to his feet and together they destroyed it.

Reyn and Shulk backed into the centre of the plaza as the Mechon surrounded them. "That was a close one," said Shulk.

"You were never cut out for this stuff," Reyn panted. "You go. I'll take care of things here."

Shulk grinned, his shoulders heaving. "You're too out of breath to persuade me."

"Tell me about it," Reyn agreed, shaking his head. He and Shulk looked up sharply at the sound of an explosion. The top of the tower standing above the Central Plaza had been hit by a Mechon blast and was now falling directly towards the boys.

They leapt out of the way in opposite directions as the tower top crashed down between them. Shulk quickly turned around to see Reyn watching him, his friend oblivious to the M72 sneaking up to him from behind.

"Reyn!" Shulk yelled. "Behind you!"

Reyn turned just in time to block the machine's claws with his shield, and was now grappling with the creature as it tried to crush him. Shulk ran up to it and began to attack it, his sword bouncing uselessly off its side.

"G- Get outta here, Sh- Shulk," said Reyn through gritted teeth. His muscles were screaming in pain; the Mechon's claws were coming ever closer to his face. Sweat dripped down his body, and he glared at the machine; its pointed nose, its beady red eyes...

"Don't be stupid!" Shulk was desperate; he hit the Mechon harder, trying to get it away from his long-time friend. "Hold on!"

A long, low cry alerted the boys to someone else's presence. It grew louder, and louder; Shulk stopped his senseless bashing to stare at the bridge leading to the Military District. Dunban grinned as he danced through the crowd of Mechon, shouting as each one collapsed at his feet. He leapt into an M72 and stuck his shining blue blade straight through it. They hurtled across the plaza together and Dunban flipped in the air; the Mechon flew off the end of his sword and skidded across the ground before him. Dunban landed neatly on the ground as explosions lit up the bridge and all the Mechon on it were no more.

A smile crept up Shulk's and Reyn's faces as the smoke cleared. Dunban was clutching a bright red sword in his left hand while his right arm hung limply by his side. Blue electricity licked across his entire body and the sword itself as he straightened up and surveyed the area.

"The Monado!" A wave of relief washed over Shulk when he saw the weapon.

Noticing the boys, Dunban put on a cocky grin. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

"Dunban!" Shulk ran over to him with Reyn.

"Woah, yeah! The Monado!" Reyn was just as excited as Shulk to see it.

"So this is why you weren't at home," said Shulk. "I thought so."

Reyn smirked. "This is what I was waiting to see!"

Dunban prepared himself as more Mechon approached from the Commercial District. "Ready lads?" He cast Enchant, and grinned as Shulk and Reyn shouted excitedly, the three of them now covered in a bluish-purple aura. Dunban eyed the machines walking towards them; some hovering M31 scout units, a hulking M82 and an assortment of M69 and M72.

"You'll do much more damage to the Mechon now!" Dunban shouted. The younger two relaxed and faced their foes. "Take out the small hovering ones first," Dunban ordered, "then work your way up. Avoid the large one until all the others are gone!"

Dunban charged straight into the machines and started felling them with ease. Shulk and Reyn looked at each other and nodded; together they charged a nearby M69 and marvelled at how easily their weapons sliced through their foe's armour. The pair grinned; the Mechon crumbled.

"Let's do what Dunban said and take out the little ones, yeah?" said Reyn. "Before one of 'em shoots ya in the back again." Shulk nodded and the two of them split up.

Reyn didn't stray far from Shulk, mindful of his promise to Fiora to keep him safe. The scout units went down first, quickly followed by the hunched M69 units and then the M72. Dunban took out almost half of them on his own. He glanced around and, seeing that the M82 was all that was left, smiled. "All right lads," he called, "let's finish this!"

Just outside the Residential District, Fiora jumped and stared across the bridge she had just crossed; a large piece of the Central Plaza's tower crashed down to seal it off. She hesitated, the ether cylinder cases knocking against each other on her back. Fiora looked up at the mobile artillery, trying to recall her training from months ago...

The latest casualty of the Monado lay at the trio's feet amid scattered scrap metal. "Nice one, Dunban!" Reyn said excitedly. "You didn't waste any time on them Mechon!"

Dunban didn't reply. Instead, he turned to Shulk, concerned. "Shulk! Where's Fiora?"

"The Residential District," Shulk replied. "We said we'd meet her there." They all looked at the broken tower blocking their way.

"Looks like we'll have to take the long way round," said Reyn.

"All right," said Dunban, "then we cut through the Commercial District."

"Yes!" Shulk agreed. Reyn nodded. The three of them made their way back across the bridge and into the Commercial District. It was empty; the Mechon that attacked them must have come from there, Shulk realised. They were going to leave the main hub of the colony via a bridge from the Commercial District, travel south and re-enter via the other entrance leading into the Residential District. Then, hopefully, they would find Fiora and a fully functional mobile artillery.

Dunban ran ahead of the other two so they wouldn't see his struggle. He could feel the power of the Monado tugging on his mind, trying to make him surrender control of his body to it. He gritted his teeth; that could not happen. Not after the events of Sword Valley; he had nearly been killed.

They had reached the bridge leading out of the colony. The symbol on the Monado brightened, and more electricity ran from the blade to Dunban's body. He cried out in pain, trying desperately to keep his grip on the sword. But the Monado flew out of his hand and slid across the bridge as Dunban fell forward on to his palms and began to choke.

"Dunban!" Reyn caught up to him and knelt down beside him; Dunban was shaking uncontrollably, breathing hard and fast. "You can't take any more of the Monado!" he said firmly.

"But I must!" Dunban looked up at the sword lying in the middle of the bridge. He was determined to destroy the Mechon trying to occupy his home. "I don't have a choice!" He coughed and stared at the ground to see it splattered in blood. He fell silent, shivering all over. Reyn stared at him, not quite sure what to do.

"Reyn's right." Shulk slowly walked towards Dunban and Reyn. "You can't go on like this."

"Shulk!" With an effort, Dunban looked up at Shulk standing beside him. _Surely, he's not..._

"Dunban." A fresh wave of Mechon had almost reached the entrance to the colony. Shulk steeled himself, and then ran out on to the bridge. He stopped beside the bright red blade and picked it up, swinging it behind him before bringing it back to his front. "This time..." Shulk activated the Monado, and the blue blade shined brilliantly, "It's my turn!"

"Shulk, no!" shouted Dunban. "It'll kill you!" Dunban began to fear for his friend when he ignored his warnings. "Shulk!"

Shulk gripped the sword tightly; electricity licked his wrists and ran up his arms to his shoulders, but went no further. He could feel a strong pull on his mind, trying to take control of his actions. Then it subsided, and with a roar, Shulk charged straight towards the Mechon.

The symbol on the Monado flashed, and Shulk realised that something was wrong. All the colour had been drained from his surroundings and everything was slowed down; his movements, that of the Mechon's, the sound of the wind. The only thing that seemed to be operating at normal speed was his mind.

"What's happening?"

A spindle-legged Mechon which resembled a spider with four legs stepped forward. Its main body was hanging between its legs; shaped like a raindrop with the wide end pointing towards the ground and a golden ring suspended around it. The point at the top of its body began to glow blue, and then an ether shot was loosed at Shulk. It was too fast; he tried to dodge it, but it hit him squarely in the chest and he was blasted on to his back.

Then the world righted itself, and Shulk found that he was running toward the group of Mechon like nothing had happened.

The spindle-legged Mechon stepped forward, and the point at the top of its body began to glow blue. On a hunch, Shulk immediately stepped to the side, and the Mechon fired its shot. It whizzed past him and collided with a building situated at the entrance to the Commercial District.

"What the?!" Dunban stared as Shulk leapt high into the air and brought the Monado down on the spider-like M42.

Shulk looked up at an M82 directly in front of him. It brought its arm back behind its body; the Monado shone brightly and once again, Shulk found that the world had slowed.

The M82 slammed its claw on the ground beside Shulk, and he fell to the ground. He tried to get up, but its other arm swung around and knocked him to the ground.

As soon as his vision was over, Shulk took a long step to the right, avoiding the claw which dug into the ground. He took another quick step forward and the Mechon's claw flew uselessly through the air. Shulk immediately followed up by slashing the machine's main body with the Monado.

"Wow," said Reyn in wonder, "Shulk's pretty awesome!" _How _did_ he learn to fight like that?_

Dunban was stunned. He watched as Shulk stood still, panting, at the end of the bridge. "How can this be?" he murmured. "Shulk is using the Monado." If Shulk could wield the Monado, they might just be able to destroy the Mechon and save the colony. He could feel his strength slowly returning.

Shulk's mind was racing. "What _was_ that?"

Reyn looked up at the sky; little black spots were falling towards them, growing bigger by the second. "Shulk! More company!"

Dunban heaved himself to his feet. "Reyn!" His voice sounded strained.

Reyn straightened himself, eyeing Dunban warily. "Right!"

An M42 was making its way towards Shulk; Dunban dashed towards it, picking up Shulk's discarded sword on the way, and then knocked the creature to the ground.

"Reyn! Dunban!" Shulk glanced back and then returned his attention to the claw attempting to crush him. He flicked it away from him and then slashed the offending machine.

"I got your _back_!" Reyn's last word was punctuated by a swipe at an M42, which jumped back to avoid his attack.

"Shulk, do you feel all right?" Dunban asked, concerned.

"I'm okay." Shulk turned away from the Mechon so he could see Dunban. "But there was something strange. Just now..." Shulk braced himself for ridicule, "it was as if I could see into the future." Dunban straightened up and stared at Shulk, thinking hard. "Is this another power of the Monado?"

"See into the future?" Reyn repeated, sceptical. "What are ya saying?"

Mildly irritated, Dunban ignored Reyn. "Are you certain? Shulk!" He gave Shulk a beady stare.

Shulk seriously considered his answer before replying. "Yes."

"I see." Dunban turned away from Shulk. "I remember Dickson saying that the Monado had a hidden power," he muttered. "Could this be it?"

Shulk could hear Dunban talking, though he couldn't make out his words. "What?" He had no time to think; the Mechon were upon them. He and Dunban leapt away from each other, towards the Mechon that were assaulting them on either side of the bridge.

Dunban slashed his sword across the chest of an M69, which then collapsed. _Why is Shulk able to use more of the Monado's power that I ever was?_ He attacked an M72 and then quickly followed up with another strike, knocking it to the ground. _He has been studying it for a long time..._ Another M72 approached; he tried to stab it, but it caught his sword in its claws, breaking his train of thought. "Don't think about it now!" Dunban called. "Just believe what the Monado showed you and fight!"

Shulk sliced through the legs of an M72. He looked over at his friend. "Got it!"

"The Monado will respond to your thoughts," Dunban continued, "so just think about casting Enchant, and it will happen!"

Shulk hesitated, and then closed his eyes. Dunban and Reyn kept the Mechon away from Shulk.

"Monado... Enchant!" Shulk swung the sword around himself and opened his eyes. He, Reyn and Dunban were all covered in a bluish-purple aura.

Dunban beamed. "Excellent, Shulk! Now, let's destroy these Mechon and meet up with Fiora in the Residential District."


	6. The Art of Breaking

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles, the wonderful Wii game from Monolith Soft, which Operation Rainfall successfully campaigned for a worldwide release, from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

With the Monado's power, the boys easily routed the Mechon on the bridge and then regrouped. "We're heading for the Residential District," said Dunban. "Once we're there, we'll need to find Fiora. She should be with the mobile artillery by the bridge leading to the Central Plaza, so we'll head there first. Understood?" When Shulk and Reyn nodded, Dunban led the way across the bridge and out of the colony and then south, hugging the cliff face. There were a few scattered Mechon on the way, which the trio quickly took care of.

Shulk, Reyn and Dunban crossed the bridge leading into the Residential District when a huge Mechon dropped from the sky, landing right in front of them. The boys gave a shout of alarm and jumped backwards; as it straightened up, they realised it was the faced Mechon that had been terrorising the soldiers in the Military District. Its claws looked much sharper up close.

"It's... massive!" Reyn and the others slowly backed away from it.

"That Mechon..." Dunban met and held its gaze, for it had what were clearly eyes, "it has a face?!"

"That don't mean nothin'!" Reyn pulled out his weapon, Shulk and Dunban following suit.

"That's right!" Shulk forced himself to remain calm. "Not when we have the Monado!" He and the others ran up to the Mechon, which made no attempt to stop them.

"Don't think you're tough just 'cause you're big!" Reyn smirked. He attempted to dig his lance into its foot, but to no avail. Reyn leapt back, growling. "Shulk! Cut it down with the Monado!" Shulk quickly complied, casting Enchant so his friends could deal damage. With a shout, Shulk ran to the Mechon's leg and slashed at it with the Monado – which bounced straight off it. Shulk fell to the ground, startled. He quickly got back up and attacked again, but the same thing happened – the Monado did nothing.

"The Monado!" Shulk cried. "It's not working!" Seemingly amused, the faced Mechon raised one claw on his hand and waggled it from side to side, like a parent might to a naughty child.

"Oi!" Reyn called. "What d'ya mean?!"

"How can that be?" Dunban exclaimed. "The Monado should cut through Mechon with ease!"

But Shulk wasn't listening. His eyes were on the Mechon's arm; a long thin line stretched across the entire limb, and it appeared to act as some sort of vein, carrying a dark red light through it. In fact, Shulk could see many such lines covering the Mechon's entire body, all filled with that same dark red light. "Wh- What is that light? Other Mechon don't have that." The faced Mechon slowly raised its arm into the air, a fact to which Shulk was oblivious. "Could... Could that light be why the Monado has no effect?"

The faced Mechon's arm was fully extended above its head; it opened its claws.

"Shulk! Reyn! Get down!" Dunban tackled the two to the ground as the Mechon thrust its claws into the ground where they had been standing only a second ago. It pulled its claws back out of the ground, watching them. "Stay back!" ordered Dunban. "I'll take it from here!"

"No!" Reyn shouted, getting up. "You can't take any more!" He pursued Dunban as he ran towards the faced Mechon. The creature slammed its claws into the two boys, sending them flying and coating them in electricity.

Shulk watched his friends roll across the ground and looked up just in time to see claws coming in to hit him; he cried out as he joined his friends on the ground.

The machine was relentless; it wiggled its claws in excited anticipation of playing with its prey when suddenly it was blasted on its back fell forward, having taken a powerful ether shot from behind.

"Everyone!" cried Fiora. "Get away, right now!" She set the mobile artillery into gear.

"Fiora!" For the first time in a long time, Dunban felt it: fear. He watched as she careered around the corner in the colony's only remaining mobile artillery, its oversized wheels knocking over the Mechon in its path. The faced Mechon got back up and turned to watch her speed towards it.

The Monado flashed, and Shulk once again found himself watching everything without colour. He saw the mobile artillery's guns blasted off by an ether bullet; then it slammed into the side of a house and fell to the ground. The faced Mechon had drawn its claws back, and then it sank them deep into the cockpit.

Shulk returned to the present. "What... What did I just..." The reality of what he had just seen began to sink in. "Fiora!" he screamed. "Get back!" He watched, horrified, as the faced Mechon took a few steps towards Fiora.

Fiora couldn't hear Shulk for the sound of the blood pounding in her ears. "I won't let you hurt any more people," she breathed. "We will save Colony 9!" The machine gun on the side of the artillery fired at the faced Mechon, but to no avail. The faced Mechon charged a blue ball of energy and then blasted off the artillery's guns.

Fiora gritted her teeth. She had come too far to back down now. With the press of a button, missiles on the other side of the mobile artillery were loosed at the Mechon, but again did no damage.

"Fiora!" Shulk roared. "Get out of here! Run!"

"You want more?!" Fiora shouted. She had a crazed look in her eyes Shulk had never seen there before. The faced Mechon began to charge another shot; Fiora responded in kind by ramming the mounted gun on top of the mobile artillery into her foe, sticking right it into the Mechon's face. They remained suspended thus until Fiora broke the momentary respite by firing the artillery's gun directly into the Mechon's face.

Both the faced Mechon and the mobile artillery flew backwards. The mobile artillery skidded across the ground; Fiora huddled inside the machine, watching as the smoke cleared from the Residential District.

She saw the eyes; glowing red, bright through the dust like embers. The left side of its face was blackened where the mobile artillery had fired into it. Pure, unadulterated terror filled Fiora as it made its way towards her. "How?"

Fiora didn't move as it picked up the mobile artillery by its mounted gun and peered closely inside the cockpit. Then it turned, swinging the mobile artillery around and throwing it into the side of a house. Shulk twitched as Fiora screamed.

"Fiora!" Shulk shouted desperately. Dunban raised his head, watching the scene unfold. The faced Mechon was walking slowly towards Fiora now. It cast aside the gun it had ripped off the top of the artillery. When it reached its prey, it slowly drew its arm back, casting a glance at Shulk and Dunban.

"NOOOOOOO!" Shulk watched on helplessly as the Mechon sank its claws deep into the cockpit of the mobile artillery, and Fiora's shrill scream rent the air.

Shulk slowly began to rise, using the Monado as a support. Dunban was in shock; he felt nothing. Reyn watched on in horror. The faced Mechon picked up the mobile artillery and tossed it carelessly behind it. Blood dripped from its fingers as it stared down at Shulk with contempt. Mechon swarmed the fallen machine to consume what was left of its pilot.

Shulk was on his feet now. White hot fury consumed him; he could think of nothing else. "I'll kill you!" Shulk ran up to the machine and started to attack it, but the Monado just bounced off its armour. It brought its claws down on Shulk, who blocked its attack with his sword. It pressed down on him, and he struggled to keep it from crushing him. He glared up at its blasted face, willing it to go, to leave them alone, or better yet, to die...

Its face... Shulk stared at the charred black mark and an idea came to him. He rolled out from under its claws, which then struck the ground. He quickly jumped back up and grabbed a hold of its arm as it lifted it back up; he swung himself up on to its arm and then dashed across it, leaping forward with the Monado poised in front of him.

"Die!" The sword went straight through the weakened metal, and Shulk was satisfied to see it causing the machine much pain. It swung its head from side to side and the Monado slid out, taking Shulk with it.

"Shulk!" Reyn dashed up to his friend, helping him to sit up. The Mechon turned, brandishing its claws wildly. Reyn lifted his shield as it did so; the claws connected with Reyn's shield and broke straight through it. Reyn cried out in pain and slid across the ground before slamming into a house and coming to a stop. He was out cold, and blood was beginning to seep through his clothes.

The Mechon turned to Shulk, and then paused. Its eyes started flashing, and it looked up at the sky. It gave Dunban a wistful glance before changing to its flying form and taking to the air.

Shulk watched in disbelief as it and the other Mechon left. To cause all this pain, kill all these people, destroy all their homes – and then just _leave_!?

Shulk didn't move. All he could feel was his anger, burning so intensely that all he could do was scream. "NOOOOOOO!"


	7. The Call

**_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk brought his hammer down on yet another piece of armour. His eyelids drooped; he could feel himself nodding off. But he would not let himself fall into sleep. Too many times this past month he had been wrenched from his nightmares, screaming to match Fiora's voice in his head. He had seen the faced Mechon, now dubbed Metal Face, as it ripped into the mobile artillery. Blood dripping from its long, silver claws; Dunban screaming; Reyn passed out against a house; the colonel clinging to life in the infirmary –

He jumped at the sound of a gentle knock on the lab door. He quickly moved to open it and was surprised to see Désirée. There were shadows under her blue eyes as she looked up at Shulk, the red beanie that normally kept her long golden-brown hair in place now absent. Shulk stepped back to let her into the lab and then shut the door behind her.

Désirée glanced around Shulk's lab; it wasn't large, but it was piled high on all sides were pieces of scrap metal. Three gas tanks stood at the back of the lab, all of which looked as if they had recently been sliced open by something. In front of the gas tanks, laying across a pedestal, was a bright red sword. Désirée eyed it, awed. "So, this is the legendary Monado?"

Shulk nodded as he turned back to his workbench. "Don't touch it."

"I wasn't planning to." She gave Shulk a small smile, and then said, "You know, everyone's been worried about you." When Shulk didn't reply, Désirée went on. "You've just locked yourself up in here; hardly anyone's seen you since..." she paused, and so did Shulk's hammer, "...since the Mechon attacked."

Shulk let his hammer fall and leaned forward on to his bench, head bowed and teeth gritted in pain. Fiora screamed in his head; Metal Face's claw waggled in front of his face; Reyn's shield broke and he flew across the Residential District; _if only I had made it stronger..._

He jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. Désirée was smiling softly at him. "We all know you're grieving, Shulk, but it isn't healthy to isolate yourself." Noticing a gleam on his wrist, she gasped. "Shulk, have you been able to...?"

Shulk glanced at her and then followed her gaze. "Ah, yes." He unclipped the watch and handed it to her.

Désirée took it from him, letting the cool metal run through her fingertips. _I wonder how _he_ would have gone in all of this..._ The clang of metal rang through the lab, smashing into her thoughts.

"This belonged to my father," said Désirée unexpectedly. Shulk put down his hammer and turned to listen, desperate to escape his thoughts. "When the Mechon attacked a year ago..." her grip on the watch tightened, "he went to fight, and... and he never returned." She bit her lip. "They never found his body." She smiled weakly. "He used to work the blacksmith here in Colony 9. 'Xord's Hammer!', it was called." She laughed softly.

"I remember that place," said Shulk. "I used to go in there sometimes as a kid, to watch him make weapons." Shulk gestured at the armour cluttering his lab. "It's thanks to him and Dickson that I'm able to make weapons and armour for the Defence Force."

"Do you think... we're going to have to go to war with the Mechon again?"

Shulk turned away, staring down at the piece of metal he was moulding into a shield. He closed his eyes as the feeling he had been trying to suppress since the Mechon attack came back to him in full force and he abruptly rounded on his friend. "I want to go after the Mechon!" he burst out. "I want to find them, and I want to _destroy_ them for what they did to the colony, and for what they did to Fiora, and to Xord, and to everyone else!"

Désirée jumped, startled by his outburst. After she regathered her wits, she began to nod slowly. "Shulk, go. Get revenge for all of us. For what they've done to the colony, my father, Fiora, all the others... This has to stop. And it seems like only you can wield the Monado properly. So... So if you can't do it, who can?" she joked.

A wave of relief washed over Shulk, and he laughed for the first time in many weeks. "Thank you, Désirée! I thought you'd tell me not to go." He took a deep breath, his mind churning out the beginnings of various plans. "Don't tell anyone just yet, not even Dunban or Dickson. I'm going to keep making weapons for the Defence Force. When Reyn starts to recover properly, I... I'll talk to him."

Désirée nodded. "I was glad to be of some help to you, Shulk." She turned to leave. "Thank you for fixing my father's watch."

Shulk smiled. "Thank you for coming to speak with me today, Désirée."

She smiled and then left. Shulk yawned and headed out the door of his lab. He then turned left, into the makeshift bed he had constructed for himself. He collapsed into it and fell into a peaceful slumber.

The next few weeks saw Shulk recruiting a handful of able-bodied soldiers from the Defence Force and teaching them to mould metal. Swords, shields, rifles, bullets, armour; Shulk carefully instructed each of the men he had enlisted in the art of creating the tools of war. Flat sheets of powerful Mechon armour had gone in to reinforcing colony infrastructure. Shulk had assisted the colony's architect in overseeing the ongoing reconstruction of the two anti-air batteries destroyed in the Mechon attack. The Residential and Commercial districts were in the process of being rebuilt, but they were at a loss as to how to go about fixing the spire which had once towered above the bridges connecting the three districts. For now, it was sitting in a corner of the Military District.

Shulk wandered into the Military District to check on the soldiers he had left in his lab. The quality of the work they had been producing was improving every day. After they had mastered the basics, there was little Shulk could do to instruct them; he checked back regularly to take a look at their work and give them constructive criticism before it was sent off for testing and use.

A large section in the north-western part of the Military District had been cordoned off and piled high with Mechon scrap, to be distributed between the districts as needed. Colonel Vangarre nodded to Shulk as he passed, leaning heavily on a large wooden stick he was using as a crutch. As soon as he had woken up, the colonel had reportedly insisted he be let out of his ward and back to work, but his doctor had refused. After a week of supposed rest, he got his wish, "accidentally" knocking his doctor with his crutch on his way out.

Glee filled Shulk when he entered his lab and noticed several good-looking rifles leaning against the wall. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be just as capable as he had guessed. He turned to the soldiers, smiling. "Well done, all of you. These rifles are of excellent quality, just like everything else you've been making. You've all really improved." The soldiers stared up at him, making no response. Shulk suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable. "Is... Is there something wrong?"

One of the soldiers stepped forward, flicking his bleach-blonde hair out of his eyes. Shulk recognised him as Raoul, a captain in the Defence Force. "Do you think we'll have to fight the Mechon again?" He asked. "Maybe even go to war. It was bad enough a year ago; we lost a large number of good men. And I don't even know how many Colony 6 lost." His intense brown eyes bored into Shulk's like the drill of an M63.

Shulk studied the expressions of the men gathered before him. Fear, anxiousness, worry; these were the emotions he saw etched into their faces.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But what I _do_ know is that if they return, we need to be ready for them." He met Raoul's gaze. "We have to."

Dusk saw Shulk sitting on his old bench at Outlook Park. He stared out into the colony, lost in his thoughts. "Fiora..." he murmured. Her voice echoed through his mind as he remembered the last conversation they had at this bench.

"The breeze feels so good," she had murmured, sedate.

Shulk looked up at the sky. "Yeah." Smiling, (he had been _smiling, _happy!) he had said, "I'd forgotten what it feels like. I never thought it could be so quiet here."

"You're spending too much time with Reyn," she told him. "You're getting used to all the noise he makes."

"Yeah, maybe," said Shulk, starting to laugh.

Fiora had giggled then, and looked out across the colony. "It's so peaceful. You know, Shulk," she cocked her head to one side, "I hope every day can be like this, always."

Shulk was jolted out of his memory by a quiet "Hey." He looked up to see Reyn standing above him. When Reyn was still unconscious, Shulk had seen the pockmarked skin on his best friend's left side made by shield shrapnel and accompanied by three long, white scars caressing his rib cage. Reyn had been released from hospital the day after Désirée had come to visit Shulk. He claimed to be feeling normal again and if his performance in training was any indication, Shulk had to admit it was true.

He offered a hand to Shulk, who took it and got to his feet. They walked to the fence at the edge of Outlook Park together, looking out over the colony. "Have you been to see Dunban?" Reyn asked.

"Yeah."

"I just can't do it," Reyn admitted. "You got more guts than me."

"Not at all," Shulk chuckled. "It was him that consoled me."

"Oh." Reyn was surprised. "I... guess that's the type of guy he is."

"Yeah." Shulk stared at the broken pillar towering above the Central Plaza. "Even without the Monado, he's the strongest person I know." Shulk told Reyn about his visit with Dunban, shortly after he had emerged from his cocoon in the Lab a few weeks ago.

Shulk had stood awkwardly in the corner of Dunban's house upstairs, not quite sure how to begin. "Uh..."

"Shulk. How are you holding up?" Dunban did not turn; he remained facing his window. It was eerily silent.

"I'm fine," Shulk had said, "But... you..."

"I will shed no tears," said Dunban firmly.

"Huh?"

"A year ago, I felt the same sense of deep loss that I do now."

"The Battle of Sword Valley," Shulk surmised.

Dunban nodded. "After that battle, many of my friends did not make it home. While I was being brought here on that stretcher, they were all I thought about." Shulk stared, lost for words. Dunban raised his head, unmoving.

"But I decided I would not cry. Everyone who died in that war had something they wanted to protect. Family, friends, loved ones, their home... So they fought to protect them." His tone turned to one of grim satisfaction. "And we won." His voice grew stronger. "No matter how painful, no matter how hard, it's nothing to be sad about..."

Dunban finally turned to face Shulk. "I decided that there and then."

"Dunban." Shulk curled his fists into balls, his eyes fixed on the ground. He wanted to tell Dunban of the journey he was planning to undertake with Reyn, to wipe out the Mechon. But Dunban cut across him.

"Shulk," he said firmly, "Fiora would tell you the same thing."

Shulk looked up sharply as Dunban continued, driving his point home. "She wanted to protect us. Or rather," his tone turned soft, "she wanted to protect you. And you're alive now. So, I will not cry."

Shulk unfurled his fists and nodded. "Okay."

Dunban turned to look out his window again. "Remember the gift of life that Fiora gave you, and treasure it."

"I... I can't say that I understand," said Shulk. "But... I hope to, some day."

"That is all I ask," said Dunban simply. "Believe me, I am always just trying to understand."

Now finished with his story, Shulk glanced at Reyn standing beside him.

"'Treasure the gift of life that Fiora gave you'," Reyn echoed. He grunted. "He's one of a kind, that Dunban."

"I've made a decision," said Shulk suddenly.

"Huh?" Reyn looked sideways at his friend.

_She wanted to protect you. And you're alive now._ Shulk attempted to push his guilt aside, finding it a surprisingly easy task. "My purpose in life – I will pursue that faced Mechon."

"Shulk..."

"They attacked our colony, killed Fiora," Shulk said, his anger rising. "I will find that Mechon – find it and destroy it. Destroy them all." The sound of his best friend's laughter only infuriated him further. "What are you laughing at?" Shulk growled.

"Sorry, sorry!" said Reyn quickly. "It's just a bit weird. I never thought you'd be the one to say it!"

"So you agree?" Shulk asked cautiously.

"'Course, man. I'm just surprised you came out with it first!" Reyn was grinning.

"You thought I'd try and talk you out of it?" Shulk was relieved. "'That's not what Fiora would want!' That sound right?"

"Yeah," Reyn agreed. "Something like that. I thought you'd give me a hard time."

Shulk thought it a good time to voice something that had been troubling him since the Mechon attack. "In my head, there are two versions of me. One of them is saying that. It's telling me, 'Listen to what Dunban said.'"

"What about the other one?"

Shulk stared at the ground, troubled. "It keeps shouting, 'Make them pay!' 'Destroy every single one of them!' And it won't stop getting louder."

"That doesn't sound like you. Sure it ain't my voice in there?" Reyn joked.

"Might be," Shulk grinned. "It's a bit of a loudmouth."

"There you go then!" Reyn said happily. The two of them laughed.

Both Reyn and his best friend looked out across the districts. "So, when are we heading off?" He asked.

"Right now," Shulk stated with conviction.

"Perfect," Reyn said with satisfaction.

"First I need to get to stop by the Military District to get the Monado," said Shulk thoughtfully. "Then we can pick up some supplies and go."

Reyn nodded. "I'll meet ya back at the entrance to the colony when I've got all my stuff."

"All right, cool." Shulk walked with Reyn back into the Commercial District and then left him at the Central Plaza. Few people roamed the Military District at this time of day, so Shulk had no difficulties getting into the lab. Inside, Shulk picked up the Monado. The sword seemed to shiver at his touch, and a single bolt of blue electricity coiled around his arm like a snake before it dissipated. Shulk slung the sword over his back and quietly left.

A short time later, Shulk and Reyn were crossing the bridge that was Colony 9's main entrance, heading for Tephra Cave. They paused once they reached the end of it.

Reyn inhaled deeply. "Right then."

"Yeah." As Reyn went on ahead, Shulk chanced one final, wistful glance at his home. The broken pillar standing above the central plaza loomed over the rest of the colony, and Shulk felt a pang of guilt. _They'll all be fine. There's nothing more we can do,_ he assured himself. He shook himself and followed Reyn.

Dunban watched from the window of his house as Shulk and Reyn walked out of the colony. "Look after yourselves, boys." He looked down at his right arm; he held it tightly as stabs of pain raced through it. "As soon as this heals, I'll be right behind you." He gazed out the window once more. "And then we will seize our destiny. Together."


	8. The Journey Begins

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Hidden behind the wall of Dunban's home, Dickson watched as Reyn and Shulk turned the corner and out of sight. He could see that they were heading for Tephra Cave. He recalled that day fourteen years past, on the snowy hills of Valak Mountain…

Dickson had seen a line of bright blue light coming from the area and decided to investigate. It had led him to the icy Harict Chapel, and the tragedy contained therein. "No!" His gaze followed the path before him, which sloped upwards before levelling out and continuing where he could not see.

Dickson walked through the freezing, hard grey corridor of the chapel, staring at the research party littering its floor. There were six in all, laying unnaturally still. Dickson knelt beside one of them, placing a hand in front of the man's face, feeling for hot breath on his fingers.

A chill ran through Dickson; he raised his head, looked sharply to his left. "Huh?" He raised himself and slowly made his way towards the end of the corridor. He found himself in a circular room with a raised pedestal in its centre; hovering above the pedestal, a black ring around its hilt and coated in an aura of a blue-purple hue, was the Monado.

Dickson's focus shifted to the bottom of the pedestal. A young boy with blonde hair lay curled up at its base, his chest heaving with life. Dickson smiled and bundled up the boy in his arms. He then left the Harict Chapel to take the boy back to Colony 9…

Shulk paused as he left the colony with Reyn. He turned to his best friend, concerned. "It's all very well going after that metal-faced Mechon." He felt silly; he should have thought of this before. "But shouldn't we have some kind of plan?"

"How about checking out Colony 6?" Reyn suggested.

"Colony 6… The only other Homs colony left," said Shulk bitterly. He felt a surge of anger towards the Mechon; something he had grown accustomed to in the past few weeks.

"Colony 6 is on the way to Sword Valley, where there's supposed to be a Mechon base," Reyn continued. "If that's where they came from, maybe the people in Colony 6 saw something."

"Good point," said Shulk eagerly. "They might even know something about that metal-faced Mechon. So…" Shulk had to think for a second, "we go past the Mag Mell Ruins and up through Tephra Cave. Then we should arrive at the Bionis' knee."

"Yeah," Reyn agreed. "And if we can get to the knee, it ain't far to Colony 6, right?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Shulk turned, eager to resume their journey. "Let's head to Colony 6!" The boys ascended Tephra Hill to get into the cave, following the road as it took them south. It doubled back on itself, so they were walking towards the north when they truly exited colony grounds. They stayed quiet as they walked through the dark stone corridor.

Shulk glanced around as they climbed the stairs leading to the Mag Mell Ruins. He nodded to the soldiers stationed in the ruins as he and Reyn continued on their way.

They found themselves in the room with two doors they had passed through so long ago, on the day of the Mechon attack. The door before them at the end of the corridor would take them back to the Cylinder Hangar, where the ether cylinders were found. The door to the right would take them through to the Bionis' knee and Colony 6, or so Reyn told him. Shulk paused in front of it."This door… It was closed when we came past before, but it's open now."

"Maybe it was programmed to open up in case of Mechon emergency," Reyn suggested. He faced Shulk. "The way to the Bionis' knee is just ahead. You ready?"

"Yeah," said Shulk firmly, "let's go." The boys strolled through the door and then down a short corridor. Directly ahead of them, metal walls turned to stone, and a soldier waved at them as they passed through.

"Are you boys headed through to Colony 6?" The soldier asked.

Before Shulk could reply, Reyn shook his head and said, "We're running some errands for one of the captains. She wants us to take out some of the vangs in here, since there's been a whole bunch appearing in Tephra Cave recently."

The soldier scratched his chin. Then he shrugged. "Well, watch yourselves, then. The Arachno nest is up ahead. If you make even the slightest sound, they'll hear it and come to attack." As he waved them through, he added, "Make sure you be careful."

"We will." Shulk walked with Reyn beyond the metal portion of the cave. They paused next to a crystal-shaped object sitting in a four-legged stand, glowing a bright yellow. "An ether lamp," Shulk observed.

"Don't traders use these things as guideposts?" Reyn asked.

"Yeah," Shulk confirmed. "We can follow them to the Bionis' knee."

Reyn turned to face Shulk. "OK. But if armed traders need guideposts, it must be pretty dangerous in here." Shulk felt his heart sink. "Let's keep our wits about us."

Shulk nodded, thinking of Fiora. "Definitely."

Reyn nodded. "C'mon, let's keep going. We've got a while to go yet." He and Shulk turned right, heading down a stone corridor the curved slightly before opening up into a huge cavern. The path twisted down and around the edges of the cavern, leading down to the ground where vangs and krabbles could be seen milling around the spring at the centre.

"This is Tephra Cavern," Reyn told Shulk as they followed the path downwards. "And that –" he pointed at the body of water "- is the Spring of Grief."

Shulk watched the vangs as they flitted around the water, batting their leathery wings. "So… Are we going to kill some of these vangs, then?" he asked, smirking.

Reyn looked abashed. "I may have been asked to wipe out some of the vangs in Tephra Cave a while ago… And then forgotten." Reyn scowled when Shulk chuckled. "Hey, I had a lot on my mind, man!"

"Like what?" grinned Shulk.

"Like… oh, whatever." They reached the bottom of the path; a pale blue ice ether deposit jutted out of the wall to their right. "I'll throw you into the spring."

"You wouldn't dare." Shulk backed away as Reyn smirked, striding towards him. "Um, Reyn… The, uh… The soldier said we should keep the noise down."

Reyn stopped what he was doing and sighed. "You're right." Relieved, Shulk followed Reyn around the spring and into another stone corridor, which twisted around on itself, sloping slightly upwards. The boys slowed when they entered another cavern; lying next to a pillar of stone, lifeless, were three men, clad in armour.

"What the…?" Shulk took in the scene before him.

Reyn pointed. "Look at the emblem. They're traders from Colony 6. No wonder it's been so long since the last delivery."

Shulk was staring at the men, feeling ill. "Reyn, their injuries…"

Reyn's face darkened. "They weren't made by no Mechon." He examined them more closely; it appeared as though the traders had been gnawed at by some unknown creature. "It was probably the monsters that live here. Man, that's grim. I don't wanna go like this. Not even killed by Mechon, just some monsters in a cave."

"They probably had families…" muttered Shulk, "children…" Fiora's scream ripped through his mind, and he gritted his teeth.

"Maybe," said Reyn. "It wouldn't surprise me." He turned to face Shulk. "But why d'you say that?"

"Oh…" Shulk pulled himself together. "No reason." He stared at the ground for a moment. Then he faced his friend. "Reyn, shouldn't we return them to the Bionis?"

"Huh…? Oh, right." Reyn looked down at the bodies, then back at Shulk. "What's born from the Bionis is returned to the Bionis. That's the way of the Homs."

Shulk glanced around; there was a pool of ether a few metres away. Together, he and Reyn dragged the bodies into it so they might become one with the Bionis. Reyn half-heartedly suggested they take their weapons for their own safety, but a single glare from Shulk put a plug in that idea.

"That was way harder than I thought it'd be," exclaimed Reyn. "I'm just about ready to collapse!"

"Let's take a rest," Shulk suggested. "If the monsters in here killed all these traders, we need to be at our best. I'm wide awake, so I'll take first watch."

"Thanks, man," Reyn said gratefully. "The nap'll do me good."

Shulk stared into the camp fire he and Reyn had constructed, and lost himself in his thoughts.


	9. Do You Wish to Change It?

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk watched the shadows flit across the roof of Tephra Cave as he sat by the fire that cast them. He thought they looked rather like people, dancing across the blue stone above him.

He unsheathed the Monado, examining it. Gripping the hilt with both hands, Shulk closed his eyes, picturing the blue blade protruding from the sword; a soft rumble caused him to reopen his eyes, and he saw that the Monado had activated.

_It responds to my thoughts. How?_ Shulk thought of Dunban and his limp right arm. _And why mine? Why are my thoughts so different, especially compared to Dunban's?_ Dunban was a far better warrior than he; why he could use the Monado flawlessly where Dunban could not, Shulk couldn't fathom.

Shulk tilted the Monado, and ever so gently lowered the blade into his palm. He applied a little force; nothing happened. _The Monado can't cut people._ He remembered saying exactly that to Reyn only a month before. _Can it cut other living things, though?_ Shulk had never tried, and nor did he want to; he wished Dickson or Dunban were here, as they had so much more experience with the Monado than he did.

Shulk leaned forwards to examine the symbol contained within one of the sword's circles of glass. _So many twisted lines…_ Shulk longed to learn what they meant. It was, he noted, the same symbol that the Monado displayed when casting Enchant. _It's almost like… The Monado always has Enchant activated._ That would make sense, and explain why the sword was able to cut through Mechon armour. _But where does it draw its anti-Mechon power from? And what about all the other layers of glass…?_

Shulk sighed and continued to turn the Monado over in his hands.

Several hours later, Reyn stretched (which did nothing to ease the pain in his aching muscles), put on his gunlance and wandered over to the campfire. "Shulk." His friend looked up. "My turn."

"Awake already?" Shulk stood.

"Didn't sleep a wink," Reyn admitted. He groaned. "And I still feel like I just did one of Vangarre's drills!"

"Heh." Shulk turned his gaze to the pond he and Reyn had dropped three men into just a few hours before.

"Hey..." said Reyn, thinking. "Why do you think the Mechon attacked?" He turned to face Shulk. "Are we just food to them? Or, what, did we do something wrong? Sort of reminds me of the battle between the Bionis and the Mechonis. I wonder if it's anything to do with that?"

"Well... It's hard to believe that living things are just a source of energy for machines." Shulk refused to believe that. "There has to be another reason."

"The Mechon... killed Fiora."

Shulk took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"You know what?" Reyn looked Shulk in the eye. "I'll never forgive 'em. I don't care what their reason is."

"Hmm." Shulk's shoulders sagged, and he dropped his gaze. "When it happened," Shulk began, "the Monado showed me that Fiora was in danger. But... I couldn't save her."

"It's not your fault," said Reyn instantly. "Just 'cos the Monado showed you some future, that don't mean you could do anything about it. You did great. You fought them off." Reyn stared down at his hands. "I couldn't have done that."

Shulk was shocked. Reyn sat down and crossed his legs. "You know, I've been thinking about it," he went on. "Why you can use the Monado, I mean. Dickson told me." When Shulk said nothing, Reyn decided to keep talking. "You're a survivor from the Monado expedition team that went out 14 years ago. There was a blizzard, or something, and your mum and dad died. And then Dickson found you and brought you back."

"That sounds right." Shulk tried to recall, but found that he couldn't. "I was pretty young, so I don't really remember anything."

"Is that why you do it?" Reyn asked. "Why you're always helping Dickson with his research and trying to figure out the Monado?"

"Maybe," Shulk admitted. "Part of me does see it as something to remind me of my mum and dad." He lifted his gaze, staring determinedly at the wall. "But mainly, if it really is the sword that the Bionis used to kill the Mechonis, like in the legend... I want to work out its secret. That's the real reason."

"I've got it!" Reyn walked around the fire to be opposite Shulk. "You were chosen. By the Monado."

"What?" Shulk almost laughed. "Chosen?"

"Don't you see?" Reyn was sure he was right. "Not even Dunban can handle it. It ain't chance that you can and he can't."

Shulk had never considered this before. He stayed quiet. Could I have been… chosen?

Reyn broke the sudden silence. "I'll take the next watch. You get some rest."

"OK, I'll try." Shulk walked over to a nearby rock wall and curled up against it. "Night Reyn."

Shulk dreamed.

He was standing on solid stone, unable to see anything for the thick smoke blocking his view. He could make out a faint, humanoid shape through the smoke.

It spoke.

"Do you wish to change it?"

"Huh...?" Shulk was confused. The shape ahead of him moved.

"The future." When Shulk said nothing, the voice continued.

"It is every man's desire to change the future. Is that not so?" The smoke around Shulk thinned slightly; a large spike could be seen above, piercing the sky.

"Even if everything has been predestined," the silky voice went on, "will you not oppose it?"

"I..." Shulk had no idea how to respond.

"The Monado is now in your hands," the voice interrupted softly. "The Monado will grow with you. If you can find the True Monado," the voice paused briefly, "the future is yours." The shape ahead of him moved, and started to walk away.

"The... True Monado?"

The shape paused, seeming to turn back. "Shulk!" Shulk looked behind him. "Shulk!"

Shulk was wrenched from his dream by an unknown force, and then plunged into another. The world and all of his senses seemed slowed down. Ahead of him, Reyn was running, pursued by many small arachno.

"Reyn!" Shulk gave chase, of the mind to help his friend. But Reyn was surrounded.

Behind Reyn, a giant arachno scuttled from the ceiling and down the wall. The vision shifted slightly, and Reyn was under attack by it. It reared up, bringing its fangs down, on to Reyn.

"Shulk!" Reyn called out to his best friend as the arachno's fang broke through his shield and pierced his chest.

"Reyn!" Shulk awoke with a start. He quickly got up and turned; he and Reyn were surrounded by arachno.

"What're ya playing at?!" Reyn yelled. "Give us a hand!" Shulk quickly activated the Monado. There appeared to be less than ten of them. One of them lunged at Reyn; he caught it on his shield, and Shulk ran it through with the Monado. _It... worked?_ It fell to the ground, unmoving.

"There's not that many!" Reyn called. "Just be careful, and we should be able to do this no problem." Another arachno lunged at Reyn; he again stopped it with his shield, thrusting it back into the horde. It tumbled into two of the others, sending them skidding across the ground.

Behind the main arachno horde, Shulk could see another, slightly larger arachno moving back and forth, tapping the ground with its legs. Shulk realised that this arachno must have some sort of authority over the others. _Arachno are capable of this?_

Shulk stabbed at one of his foes as it scurried forward to nip at his legs. It shuddered as the Monado pierced its thorax, and then collapsed. "Reyn!" he called, pulling the blade out of the four-legged creature, "That one at the back seems to be in charge!"

Reyn nodded, though he didn't take his eyes off the creatures. "I'll distract them! You run around and take out that one!"

Shulk swallowed and nodded. "Got it!" Shulk slowly backed away as Reyn performed a wide, sweeping attack that served to thoroughly irritate their foes. One of them didn't get away in time; part of one of its forelegs was clipped off, and Reyn was able to catch its head with another blow.

Shulk counted five remaining arachno, four of which were attacking Reyn. The fifth, larger creature was hovering behind the rest, scuttling back and forth as the others pressed on.

Suddenly they all turned to face Shulk. Reyn gave a shout as Shulk suddenly found himself surrounded. Shulk gripped the Monado tightly and, seeing no other way out, drew the sword above his head.

"Monado… BUSTER!" The blade of the Monado shone brilliantly and stretched to more than twice its length. Shulk slammed it down on to three of the arachno, including their leader. One lost two legs; the other two were sliced cleanly in half.

The other two arachno fled. Reyn strolled up to the now two-legged arachno as it tried feebly to flee, and then stabbed it through its thorax. The creature jerked, and then lay still.

Shulk deactivated the Monado and slung it over his back. "I'm sorry, Reyn," he began.

"Don't worry about it," Reyn replied. "It looked like you were having a nightmare!"

"Really?" In his head, Shulk could still hear that mysterious voice.

_The Monado is now in your hands. The Monado will grow with you. If you can find the True Monado, the future is yours._

"The True Monado?" Shulk muttered. "Was I dreaming?"

"What's with you?" Reyn asked, irritated. "We'd better get a move on." He turned and started to leave.

As his friend walked off, once again, Shulk found himself thinking of the vision.

It was briefer this time; Reyn was surrounded, and then got stabbed by the giant arachno's fang.

_It wasn't a dream,_ Shulk realised. _Was it a vision? What should I do? I could tell Reyn. But... I don't know..._ He followed Reyn up a small ramp and into the next room. Littering the ground were strange oval-shaped objects that looked to Shulk like egg sacs.

Reyn was floored. "What on Bionis are those?" He wandered over to them.

"Monsters' egg sacs... I think..." Shulk frowned. "But it looks like there are Mechon parts inside as well."

Reyn strolled up to one of them, examining it. "Man... What kind of monsters are they?"

"Probably some type of arachno..." Shulk heard the crunch of a shield breaking and the sound of a fang ripping through homs flesh. He gasped and spun around. "Reyn! Get back!"

Even as he said it, a web dropped down from above and enveloped his friend. Reyn gave a shout as he was pulled up through a hole in the roof.

"Reyn!" Shulk watched him go. "No! If that vision comes true, then Reyn...!" Shulk pulled himself back to the present.. "I've gotta find him!"


	10. Saving Private Reyn

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk watched as an arachno web dragged Reyn up through a hole in the roof. _Where to from here...?_ Shulk looked around for an exit and, seeing one, dashed out of the cavern. He took a right to continue down the grey stone corridor when he immediately found himself at a dead end. Shulk ran through an opening to his right and found himself inside another, smaller cavern containing two arachno egg sacs; he skirted around its outside and then stumbled into yet another cavern. It was dimly lit by the shining pool of pale blue water that filled most of the space. Shulk paused to catch his breath.

Seeing movement ahead of him, Shulk looked up. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Reyn running across a rocky platform protruding from the wall.

Reyn glanced behind him as he ran, counting three arachno on his tail. "You things just don't give up, do ya?" he panted. He kept running, desperate to escape them.

"Reyn!" Shulk looked around. "I've gotta hurry. If I can get up there, I should be able to reach him." Shulk's eyes followed a rocky pillar leading from the ground up to Reyn's platform. Vines were growing on its side. _I should be able to climb those._

Shulk waded through the shallow pool that lay between him and the vine-covered pillar of stone. A shiver ran through him as he walked through a ball of blue light that softly jumped out of the pool in front of him; the ball soaked through his jacket and slowly fell back into the water. He reached the edge of the pond and then almost stumbled into another one; he glanced up and weaved his way between many, smaller pools of water to reach the pillar and scale its vines.

At the top of the pillar, Shulk turned right, sprinting along a winding stone passageway. He could hear Reyn's voice echoing down from ahead.

"Shulk! Where are ya!?"

"Reyn!" Shulk rounded a corner and saw Reyn standing in the middle of a huge cavern, surrounded by arachno. The scene's familiarity made him feel ill. "Reyn!"

Reyn, meanwhile, was looking for a way out, and not seeing one. "There's too many of 'em! I kill one, and ten more pop up!" He blocked a string of web with his shield and ran towards the other end of the cavern, away from Shulk.

"Reyn! No!" Shulk gave chase. The arachno ignored him, intent on his friend. "Not that way!" Again the sound of a broken shield ripped through Shulk's mind. "Reyn!"

Finally, Reyn turned. "Shulk!" Relieved to see his friend, Reyn didn't notice the giant arachno that was as it scuttled down from the ceiling, and then the wall. Reyn didn't turn until it was right behind him, fangs bared and rearing up to attack.

"Reyn!" All Shulk could think of was the life of his best friend. The Monado activated in his hands without his input, glowing a dazzling yellow. With a yell, Shulk spun on the spot, twirling the Monado through the air. A yellow pulse crossed the cavern, enveloping Reyn in a ball of yellow light. The giant arachno's fang slammed down on to it - and bounced right off it.

The beast took a step back, seemingly disorientated. "What's this?" Reyn stared up at his new shield.

Shulk lifted his sword high into the air. "The power… of the Monado!?"

The giant arachno let out a low roar that almost sounded like a hiss. It then started to clear a path towards Shulk, who merely watched, motionless.

"Look out!" Reyn sprinted over to Shulk and took up a stance between him and the arachno as it reared up once more to attack his friend. It slammed its fangs into Reyn, who pushed back through his yellow ball of light and managed to deflect the attack. The creature stepped back again, wary.

"Glad one of us figured out these things would try an ambush," grinned Reyn. He prepared himself for battle. "Let's do this, Shulk!"

"Right!" Shulk readied the Monado as the giant arachno approached them. Shulk quickly cast his newfound power on himself as it reared up to hit him; yet again, it merely bounced off the ball of yellow light. "It looks like this new power protects us from harm!" he called.

"Well," Reyn caught a smaller arachno on his shield, well within his yellow ball, "it looks like it only protects us from big attacks!" He thrust the arachno away from him as the others swarmed. "If we can take out the big one, the others should all run off!"

Shulk backed away from the big arachno, slashing at the smaller ones as he passed them. Several crumpled beneath the Monado, but more continued to appear. _We really do need to take out the big one,_ he thought, despairing.

Reyn felt like he was dancing, trying to take out as many of the smaller arachno as possible while keeping the large one at bay. _All my hits just bounce off its damn armoured legs._ He noticed Shulk edging around the side of the spider. _What's he doing?_ Reyn had no choice but to trust in his best friend; another arachno lunged at him, which he cut down in midair with his lance.

No more than a minute later, the beast reared up, pincers snapping, and tried to turn around. It let out another cry, and a shudder shook its entire body. Blood dripped from its abdomen; the smaller arachno stopped attack Reyn, and instead started scuttling towards Shulk. _What's he done?_

Seeing an opportunity, Reyn seized it. He dashed towards the giant arachno, which was now fighting Shulk, and stuck his gunlance into its underbelly when he reached it. The creature gave a bellow of pain, but Reyn dragged his gunlance across the soft flesh, ripping it wide open. He dashed out again as it gave one final shudder and collapsed on to the ground, unmoving.

Reyn turned to Shulk as the arachno scattered, their leader defeated. "Looks like the Monado works on more than just Mechon!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I gotta say, that's pretty awesome!"

Shulk's thoughts were elsewhere. "Reyn…" he began, "I just realised something."

"Huh?" Reyn calmed down and frowned as Shulk elaborated.

"The future I see… It isn't set. I think it's… more like a warning."

"A warning?" Reyn echoed, scratching his head.

"Yeah… A warning about what will happen. What will happen if I don't do anything, or..." In his mind's eye, Shulk saw Metal Face, "...if I can't do anything." Sounding more determined, he went on, "So I can use this power to change the future. And that's exactly what I intend to do."

"You've got my vote," Reyn answered instantly, "And if you really can do that… I think FIora would have liked it too."

"Yeah." _If I had just realised this earlier… Maybe she could have told me that herself._

"Right, let's get moving," said Reyn, breaking into Shulk's thoughts. "We're nearly at the Bionis' knee."

Shulk and Reyn turned and headed towards the other side of the cavern and then followed a small, winding corridor. They were not walking for long before they emerged from Tephra Cave.

The boys stopped, turned and looked up. Shulk gasped as he was met with a sight the likes of which he could never have imagined.

His eyes followed the leg of the Bionis up to its waist, where he saw the great sword of the Mechonis, on which the Battle of Sword Valley had taken place a year ago, wedged into the Bionis. Higher still, mist covered the frozen right arm of the Bionis, dyed red in the light of the setting sun. Higher even than that was the head of the Bionis, where a great horn-like spike stuck out into the sky.

Shulk gasped as he stared; "Wow!"

Reyn leaned back to get a better view. "No matter how many times I see this, I never get used to it."

The boys turned to see the Mechonis, its red eyes shining through the clouds separating it from the Bionis. "On the other side of those clouds…"

"Yep. It's our enemy." Reyn paused for a moment. "Mechonis," he spat.

Shulk clenched his fists, thinking of Colony 9, and of Fiora. "Our enemy…"

Unbeknownst to Shulk and Reyn, an M31 Scout Unit took its recordings and fled to report back to its master.

Back at the Mechon lair, a giant Mechon featuring what appeared to be a shining blue cone of light as a tail picked up a dead Homs soldier and dropped it into its circuits to feed as it listened to the M31's report. It cocked its head, and put on a vicious grin.

Reyn was trying to orient himself. "If we just came up the Bionis' shin…"

"Then this must be its kneecap, right?" Shulk turned to look at the cave they had just left. _I'm glad to be out of there._

"Yup." Reyn followed Shulk's gaze, smiling. "Which means Colony 6 is up ahead!"

Shulk's eyes wandered off to the left, where he spotted some vines growing on the side of the cliff. "Looks like we can climb up there."

"Great! I love a good climb," grinned Reyn. He glanced behind him; a huge cliff dropped off the side of the Bionis. He wandered over to it; all he could see was darkness. "Did you know that anything you drop off here ends up back in Tephra Cave?" Reyn asked.

"No," Shulk replied warily, "and I don't want to test it." Reyn shrugged and wandered back over to Shulk. "How do you know that, anyway?"

"One of the guys lost a book over the side once. We found it on our way back home, all broken and soggy." He started to walk towards the vines. "Come on then!"

The boys quickly found a path to follow, which led them through a steep canyon. Rounding a corner, they were surprised to find a small group of people sitting together and talking. They stopped and turned to stare at Shulk and Reyn as they approached.

Shulk smiled walked ahead of Reyn. "Hi there! Would any of you happen to know the way to Colony 6?" The strangers exchanged a despaired look, which made Shulk's grin slip. "Is something wrong?"

One of them, whose giant backpack gave him the look of a merchant, patted the grass beside him. "Sit, stranger," he said sadly, "and we'll tell you what's happened to Colony 6."


	11. The Bionis' Leg

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk and Reyn rose with the morning sun and bid farewell to the travellers they had spent the night with. The travellers left for Tephra Cave; the boys set their feet in the opposite direction, towards the Bionis' Leg. Steep cliff faces surrounded them on either side as they walked. restricting the boys' route to a narrow path that lay between them.

Shulk trudged behind Reyn, thinking about what the travellers had told them. "Reyn…"

"I know what you're thinking, Shulk," said Reyn, cutting him off, "but I reckon we should go check out Colony 6 anyway. We need to get to Galahad Fortress, yeah? Well, we have to pass through Colony 6 to get there. Besides," he gave Shulk a grin, "we might find some survivors."

Shulk closed his mouth and nodded, returning his attention to the ground. _Survivors…_

Shulk stumbled into Reyn; Reyn brushed him off and pointed straight ahead. "Oi, Shulk! Look over there." He sounded taken aback.

Shulk edged around Reyn to see what he was pointing at. Their path opened up into a huge plain; Shulk, however, was too alarmed by what he saw to take any notice. "Smoke?"

"Maybe someone's got a fire going!" exclaimed Reyn. "Hope they're cooking up something good!"

"It's hardly a good spot for a barbeque," Shulk pointed out. "Come on, let's take a look."

He and Reyn headed towards the smoke, out into the plains laid before them. A warm breeze stirred the grass at the boys' feet, which seemed to stretch on forever. Further ahead and to their left, rocky ramps covered in grass jutted out of the cliff face; where they led, neither Shulk nor Reyn could see. To their right lay a pool of water with a stream running into it; its source appeared to be somewhere ahead, beyond the cloud of black smoke.

Shulk and Reyn walked south towards the pillar of smoke, drinking in the sights around them. _This place… is huge._ The more Shulk looked, the more he noticed; beside the rocky ramps to the north, the plain appeared to fall away into oblivion. They found themselves surrounded by armus, four-legged creatures whose backs and legs were covered in brown scales; similar creatures with green scales could be found around Colony 9. Beneath the scales on their backs, a coat of hair could be seen. There were other, larger armus as well; these were not found in Colony 9, and had large horns jutting from their heads.

"What the…?" Reyn muttered. Shulk followed his gaze and was dumbfounded to see what appeared to be a chicken walking around, holding a spear with its wings.

"Just keep walking," said Shulk. "I'm not sure what that is, but we need to check out the smoke."

"Um… yeah…" Reyn shook his head, bewildered, and continued to walk.

As the boys approached the column of smoke, they began to make out a large, dark shape at its base. They paused beside it. "Someone's left a buggy out here," Reyn observed.

Shulk moved to stand next to Reyn. "That's strange. Who would just abandon a buggy in this place?" He faced Reyn. "And it's pretty new."

"Is it brand new?" Reyn asked.

"Not brand new," Shulk replied. "But it's in very good condition. You wouldn't just abandon it. So... what did happen to the driver?" Shulk reached out to touch the buggy, and found himself treated to a vision.

Shulk saw a boy being chased down by some ardun beside a body of water; the water appeared to be gushing out of the cliff nearby. It surrounded on one side by the cliff, and the other a grassy ramp.

Back in the present, Shulk turned to Reyn. "There's a boy!" he exclaimed. "He's being attacked by monsters!"

"You saw it happening?" said Reyn quickly. "Where?"

"I don't know," said Shulk. "But it was near some water."

"Near water…" Reyn echoed. "But what made you have a vision all of a sudden?"

"Maybe it was triggered by touching the buggy," Shulk suggested.

"Well, we'd better find him," said Reyn firmly. "Let's search everywhere round here where there's water!"

"OK!" Shulk nodded.

Reyn glanced around. "So, did the vision tell you where exactly we could find the boy?"

Shulk shook his head. "I only know it's near some water. And there was a waterfall in the background."

Reyn's eyes dropped to the water running next to them. "Maybe it's at the source of this stream?" He suggested.

Shulk's eyes brightened. "Good thinking, Reyn! Let's follow it." He and Reyn struck east, following the stream as it curved south-east before straightening out to the east again. The boys slowed as they reached the source of the water; there were no boys or arduns in sight.

"Was this the place, Shulk?" Reyn asked.

"No…" Though there was a waterfall cascading down the side of a cliff, it was not emerging from it. "This place looks different to the one I saw in my vision."

Reyn scratched his head. "Where to now, then?"

"I'm not sure." Shulk looked to his right; the rocky walls curved into each other, forming a dark, narrow passageway that he could see formed a dead end. For some reason, it made him feel uneasy, and goosebumps rose on the back of his neck. He turned the other way, looking north across the grassy field; Shulk remembered spotting a body of water as they entered the plains. He pointed. "I think this way. I remember seeing some water around there as we walked into this place."

Reyn nodded. "So do I, now that you mention it… Let's go that way then!" He and Shulk headed north, keeping their eyes open for any form of water. Shulk took the time to properly describe the location he had seen in his vision to Reyn. After walking for an hour or so, the boys found that they could see the glint of light on liquid both to their west and to their east. Reyn turned to Shulk. "So…"

Shulk looked left; the pool there appeared to be hemmed in on either side by the rocky ramps he had seen as they entered the plains. To his right, he could clearly see some form of waterfall cascading from a cliff face, with a grass-covered slope lining one of its sides. _That looks quite close to what I saw._ He pointed it out to Reyn. "That looks a lot like the place I saw." He drew the Monado. "Are you ready?"

"You bet!" Reyn pulled out his shield-lance and walked with Shulk towards the waterfall. As the boys approached, they noticed a clump of trees growing beside the water. Reyn's grip on his weapon tightened. "Shulk! Over there!"

Between the trees, two arduns towered over a scrawny, brown-haired boy as he screamed for help. Reyn immediately dashed in, quickly followed by Shulk. He placed himself between the boy and the creatures. "You all right, kid?"

The boy looked up, startled. "Who are you?"

"That can wait!" said Reyn sharply. "Go! Get outta here! Leave these guys to us."

"O- OK!" The boy quickly got to his feet and fled.

Shulk looked at Reyn. "Let's do this!"

"Ready when you are," grinned Reyn. The creatures growled and tried to follow the boy, but Reyn smashed it in the face with his shield. It recoiled and narrowed its eyes; a sore had opened up where Reyn had struck it. "You'll have to go through us if you want the kid!" The ardun tried to headbutt Reyn, but he jumped back and hit it in the head once more; it took a couple of steps backwards, growling.

The other ardun charged at Reyn; he leapt out of the way and slashed at it with the end of his shield, leaving a long, deep cut in its side. The beast howled and rounded on Reyn; Shulk dashed in and swiped its other side. It tried to turn to Shulk, but Reyn ran in and slammed it on the side of its head with his shield, breaking one of its horns. Shulk slashed it again; after a few more rounds of this, it collapsed in a bloody heap.

The two quickly disposed of the other ardun in a similar fashion. The boy they were helping was nowhere in sight.

"Well, now that that's over…" Reyn looked over at Shulk. "Did you see where that kid went?"

"I think he ran off towards the buggy… I'm not sure though."

Reyn nodded. "That'd make sense. Let's go back there."

Sure enough, Shulk and Reyn found the boy back at the buggy. Shulk walked over to the machine and bent down to examine it properly.

"Are you a mechanic?" The boy asked, green eyes anxious.

Shulk turned to face him, "Not really…"

"Ha!" laughed Reyn. "You can fix just about anything. Just give it a go; I'm sure you'll work it out."

"Well… Maybe." Shulk turned back to the buggy. _If I just move this around…_

A short time later, Shulk stepped back and stretched. "OK. It should work now."

The boy looked relieved. "Great. You saved my skin! My buggy short-circuited, and then there were those monsters, and… Well, thanks!"

Shulk nodded. "I fixed the circuit, but it's out of ether. Change the cylinder and it'll be good as new."

"I think it's time for the introductions." Reyn stepped forward. "I'm Reyn. He's Shulk."

Shulk smiled. "Pleased to meet you."

"Oh… Hi! I'm Juju." Juju hesitated briefly. "Where are you two heading? If you've got time, you should come back to our camp!"

"Your camp?" Shulk repeated.

"Yeah," said Juju. "It's not far."

"How about it?" Reyn asked Shulk.

"Let's take him up on the offer," Shulk suggested. "I'm surprised there's a Homs camp here, but they might have some information."

"I suppose," Reyn agreed.

Shulk turned back to Juju. "Juju, can you tell us how to get there?"

"Sure!" said Juju eagerly. "If you go back to the oasis, you should see a tall stone post. Head there first."

"Then what?" prompted Reyn.

"There's a small path in the woods, next to the stone post. Just follow it down to our camp."

"Got it!" exclaimed Reyn. "Now, let's make a move." The buggy was still able to move on its own, albeit very slowly. Juju jumped into the driver's seat and drove it steadily forward. He, Reyn and Shulk started to head north-east, back towards the oasis where they had met.

Reyn took a deep breath. "Man, is it always this sunny here?"

"Not always… But it is a lot of the time."

Glancing around, Reyn spotted some of the armus and arduns they had seen earlier. "Hey, Shulk… Weren't we supposed to kill a couple of those for that traveller?"

Juju looked up, curious, but Shulk spoke first. "Well… They don't seem to be attacking anybody."

"That guy reckons they do, though," said Reyn. "And only when someone gets near 'em."

Shulk hesitated. "I don't want to kill a creature if it's not hurting anybody."

"They've been attacking a lot of our people while they've been out getting supplies," Juju interjected. "If you took out a few of them, there would be less of us getting injured."

Shulk hesitated, and then slowly drew his sword. Reyn followed suit. As they approached the group, the ardun snarled and moved between the boys and the armu. _It's protecting its family,_ Shulk realised. He stopped and took a step back.

"Shulk?" Reyn paused, the growling ardun before him and his best friend behind him, unmoving.

Shulk shook his head. "It's just protecting itself and its family, Reyn."

"Family?" Reyn looked back at the ardun and the armus crowding behind it. The beast pawed the ground, still growling. He sighed and slowly backed away with Shulk. When it was satisfied that the boys had gone far enough away, it threw back its head and trotted off in the opposite direction, the armus in tow.

_Protecting its family…_ Juju had never thought of it like that. He said nothing as Reyn and Shulk strolled back over to his buggy. They continued along their path to the oasis.

"Why didn't you want to fight it, Shulk?" Reyn asked. "Especially after those two we killed earlier?"

"Well…" Shulk looked up at the sky, thinking. "It didn't attack us until we went near it, did it? It wasn't going out of its way to do us any harm. It just… didn't feel right. As for the two that attacked Juju… It didn't look like they were going to back off." He turned to Juju. "Why did those two arduns attack you?"

Juju shrugged. "I was just trying to get back to camp when they came running along… As soon as they saw me, they started to chase me. I didn't do anything to them."

Shulk nodded. "See, Reyn?"

Reyn waved his hand about. "I hear ya." He looked down at Juju. "Do you reckon your mates could get the stuff you need without going near those things?"

"I… I guess we can try."

Reyn nodded, seemingly satisfied. Shulk smiled, grateful for his friend's understanding. They walked on together until they reached the oasis, which Juju told them was known as the Rho Oasis. Water gushed out of the cliff face and into the pool of water below. Next to the water was a small hill from which one could dive off, into the water. The place struck Shulk as a peaceful one - when there weren't raging ardun roaming the place.

The sight of their lifeless bodies made Shulk uneasy. He turned to Juju. "Shall we move on?"

Juju nodded and began to head south-east. He pointed out their destination, the Kamos Guidepost; an ancient building that had been standing for as long as even Juju's parents could remember, he told them. The grey structure jutted out of the ground, overgrown with moss and plants. From there, Juju led them south through a small forest. They made their way through the trees towards a narrow opening in the cliff face; Juju nodded to a man standing guard as they passed him.

The path sloped downwards at a slight angle. The cliff face on their left opened up into a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing lay a pool of water with what looked like some kind of giant engine sitting in it.

A raven-haired woman approached the party as they made their way into the refugee camp. "Juju". She sighed. "Where have you been?" Shulk was startled when he heard a woman's desperate voice in his head as he was visited by a vision.

"Juju!" Juju was caught in a Mechon's claw, the raven-haired woman running towards him; the vision changed, and she was the one falling into its claw. A Mechon with a face - different from the one which had attacked Colony 9 - turned to look at Shulk. Shulk blinked as he dropped back to the present, trying to process what he just saw.

The woman was scowling as she glared down at the buggy. "Don't tell me you were…" When Juju just stared at his feet, she continued. "I've told you a thousand times. We're not ready to leave the camp yet."

"But I thought…" Juju slowly raised his gaze.

"Juju!" she exclaimed angrily.

Juju looked back to the ground. "Sorry, Sharla."

Sharla smiled softly and bent down to touch her forehead to Juju's. Then she stood and turned her brown eyes to Shulk and Reyn. "That gear. You must be survivors from the Defence Force!" She ran over to Reyn, looking desperate. "Is Colony 6 OK? Did Gadolt make it?!"

"Hold on," said Reyn. "What are you talking about?"

"We've… we've come from Colony 9," said Shulk slowly.

Sharla looked surprised. "Colony 9?"

Juju spoke up. "They saved me from some monsters. This is Reyn, and Shulk."

"Oh," Sharla sounded disappointed, "so you're not from Colony 6." She stared at the ground for a moment before lifting her gaze. When she spoke, her tone was much more measured. "Thank you for helping Juju. I'm his sister, Sharla."

"I told them they could rest here with us," Juju said in a small voice.

Sharla glanced at Juju. "Did you now? Well, all right." She looked back at the boys. "I suppose that's only fair."

Reyn glanced at Shulk. I'm sure she knows more than that traveller. "Did something happen? To Colony 6?"

"Actually, we're heading there ourselves," Shulk added.

Sharla averted her gaze. "Colony 6 has been…" She couldn't bring herself to say it; Juju looked away. "Our home! It's been occupied by the Mechon."

Shulk had nothing to say. _So those travellers were right…_

"I'll tell you about it inside," said Sharla grimly. "Follow me." She turned and began to lead the boys into a cave set into the cliff. Shulk and Reyn looked at each other before following her into the cave.


	12. Stupid Kid!

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk and Reyn followed Sharla into a cave. Inside were a number of women, children and elderly people, belonging to both Homs and Nopon alike. The children stared as they walked through. The entire area was open; there was no privacy to be had here. The stone corridor was short, and looped back in on itself; there was barely enough room for the few dozen refugees currently calling it home.

Sharla led the boys to what was presumably hers and Juju's area. A couple of mats lay on the ground for them to sleep on, and boxes full of supplies were stacked in a corner.

Sharla paused here. _Where do I start..._ She turned to face the strangers from the Bionis' foot. "We already fought off the Mechon a year ago," she began, "at the Battle of Sword Valley. It left us with a false sense of security. The Colony 6 Defence Force didn't even notice the approaching Mechon." Her eyes darkened as she remembered. "By the time the air-raid siren had sounded, a swarm of Mechon had blackened the sky. They ate people and burned our buildings." She repressed a shudder. "Me and Juju dedicated ourselves to evacuating the children and elderly." Sharla shrugged. "I don't know what happened next."

"It's just like what happened to Colony 9," Shulk muttered.

"They attacked your colony as well?!" Sharla was shocked.

Shulk nodded. "Yes. It's good that you managed to evacuate so many."

"We have Otharon... the Colonel... to thank for that," Sharla replied. "Him and Gadolt."

"This Gadolt..." Reyn began.

Sharla stared at the ground. "He would have been my husband by now if not for all this." When she looked up again, she saw Reyn and Shulk shuffling their feet uncomfortably. She laughed. "Cheer up, you two!"

"Er..."

"We can't lose hope just yet! I'm certain Gadolt and the other soldiers are alive. They're still fighting." Sharla sounded more determined. "I can feel it."

"Erm..." Juju sounded nervous.

Shulk turned to him. "Hmm?"

"You're on your way to Colony 6, right?" Juju asked.

"You bet! We're up for some revenge," Reyn proclaimed "I bet we can even get your colony back."

"There you go, showing off again..." Shulk sighed.

"If anyone can do it, it's you two," said Juju eagerly. "Could... um..." he steeled himself; _just do it!_ "Could you take me with you to the colony?!"

"Juju!" said Sharla sharply. "The people here need us! How many times do I have to tell you?"

"But you heard!" Juju said angrily. "The Mechon attacked Colony 9! That means a load of them have left Colony 6 already! It has to!"

Sharla's anger died; she hadn't considered that. _It doesn't change much._ "Even if that's true... No, especially if that's true! We cannot expose the camp to any more danger."

"So..." Juju couldn't believe what he was hearing from his sister, "you don't care what happened to the people in the colony?!" He raised his voice. "How can you be so heartless? Are you that scared of the Mechon?!"

Suddenly Shulk felt the familiar pull on his mind, and found himself transported to another place.

What looked like mechanical stalks rose up from flames dancing across solid rock. The stalks ended in three-bladed propellers, and for a moment, Shulk saw one holding Juju; the vision changed, and he saw another holding Sharla.

Next he saw a hulking Mechon with a distinct face. _Its shape looks too different from Metal Face's..._

Back in the present, Shulk heard Reyn speaking. "Oi kid!"

"Reyn!" Juju protested.

Reyn ignored him. "You oughta know how Sharla feels. Watch your mouth, and have some respect!"

Juju turned his gaze to the floor. He began to speak, but then stopped. _I'll show them._ "I'll go and make dinner." His voice wavered as he spoke, and he left.

Reyn watched him go. "Maybe I was too hard on him." He realised Shulk had been quiet for a while now. "Shulk?" Shulk, thinking of what he had just seen, didn't reply.

"Reyn, you really remind me of Gadolt when you get angry." For a moment, the gentlest of smiles could be seen on Sharla's face.

"I… I do?" Reyn turned back to Sharla, unsure how to react.

"Gadolt's taken care of us ever since we were young," Sharla explained. "I always saw him as a big brother really, but he was more of a father to Juju… He'd call him 'kid' whenever he told him off, just like you did."

"I don't think I'm ready to be someone's old man just yet…" said Reyn, feeling uncomfortable. He glanced back over to Shulk, who still hadn't said a word. "Shulk? Did it happen again?"

"Yeah." Shulk looked up at Reyn.

"You had another vision?" Reyn clarified.

The roar of a motor engine resounded through the cave before Shulk could respond. He felt his stomach drop. "Oh no!"

"No! Juju!" Sharla raced out of the cave with Shulk and Reyn in tow, and was horrified by what she saw. "The buggy's gone!" she cried. "He's going to Colony 6 on his own!"

"Stupid kid!" exclaimed Reyn.

"We have to hurry," Shulk advised. "Something bad's going to happen."

Reyn spun around. "What did you see?" he demanded.

"A deep valley… Everything's engulfed in flames… There's a black shadow…" Shulk paused, and then said, "It… kills Juju."

"Is it the Mechon with the metal face?" Reyn asked.

Shulk nodded. "Yeah."

"Where does it happen?" Reyn asked. "Is it near Colony 6?"

"I'm not sure… I think so."

"Let's get after him, Shulk!" Reyn turned to leave, and found himself facing a bewildered Sharla.

"Hold on a second! What was that all about?" Sharla's mind was racing; _vision? Juju… killed? A Mechon with a face…?_

Reyn sighed. "I know you won't believe this… but Shulk can see the future."

"The future?" Sharla was skeptical. "That's not possible."

Shulk spoke up. "That's what I thought too. I still can't explain this. But that vision I had will come true unless we stop it."

"So you're telling me Juju's in danger?" Sharla demanded.

"Believe it or don't believe it, that's your call. But I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for Shulk's visions." With that said, Reyn began to walk towards the camp's exit, on to the plains.

Sharla was wrapped in her own thoughts. "Juju…" She closed her eyes, weighing her options. With a sigh, she opened them again and faced Shulk. "OK. I can't say I believe you. But what have I got to lose?"

"I like the way you think," grinned Reyn.

"Sharla, you're…" began Shulk.

Sharla glanced at him. "What?" she asked irritably.

"No, nothing." Shulk shook his head.

Sharla was confused; _What was he going to say…?_

"What are you doing?" Reyn interrupted her thoughts. "Let's go and find Juju!"

Sharla walked ahead of Reyn and stopped in front of him. "When you talk like that you sound just like Gadolt! That's how I know it's not worth arguing."

"What am I, some kind of Gadolt substitute?"

Shulk watched the exchange from a distance; the vision ran through his head yet again. _That thing kills Sharla too. I saw it in the vision. But I can't stop her coming with us. I don't know how I can protect her._ Shulk shook his head to clear it. _But I have to do it. I WILL change the future._

Shulk caught up to Sharla and Reyn. "Give me a second," she was saying, "just let me grab my rifle." She raced back into the refugee camp and returned a few minutes later with it slung over her shoulder. "Let's get going, then." Sharla led Shulk and Reyn north out of the refugee camp.

Reyn turned to Sharla. "Sharla, do you know which way Juju went?"

"There are quite a few ways to get there from here," Sharla sighed, "but he's in a buggy, so I think he'll take Raguel Bridge."

"Raguel Bridge?" Shulk repeated.

"It's not far," said Sharla. "It's a really old bridge. Built around the time Colony 9 was founded."

"Okay," said Shulk. "Let's make that our next stop."

"Sounds like a plan!" Reyn turned to Sharla. "Sharla, you stay back. Leave any monsters up to me and Shulk."

This served to irritate Sharla to no end. "What, you think I can't pull my weight in battle?" She forced herself to calm down, though her tone still had a bite to it. "I've got field experience as a medic. If you get hurt, I can use ether to patch you up."

"Nice! I'm always getting roughed up," grinned Reyn. "You'll be a big help!"

Meanwhile, at the Raguel Bridge, Juju was having mechanical problems.

"Come on! Who put this barrier in the way?" He stared at the buggy, which had crashed into the side of the bridge. "Ohh, now the front suspension's all twisted up!" He looked to the other side of the bridge. "Looks like I'll have to walk it." His thoughts turned to the fight he and his sister had back at camp, and of the way Reyn had leapt to his sister's defence. It made him furious. "They're all cowards. I'll show them all." And with that, he began his long walk to Colony 6.


	13. Spiral Valley

_**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**_

_Am I afraid of the Mechon?_ Sharla considered the question seriously as she trekked east with Shulk and Reyn, towards Raguel Bridge. Juju's words were echoing through her head, riddling her with guilt.

_How can you be so heartless!?_

_Yes,_ she decided, _I am afraid of the Mechon. But I will_ not _let that fear paralyse me._

The party slowed. Littering the path up ahead was a large number of Mechon, their armour glinting in the sunlight. "Raguel Bridge is through there," Sharla said reluctantly.

Reyn looked back to the group of Mechon; there were just so many. "Are we going to have to fight all of those?" he asked grimly.

Sharla looked up and to her right. _It looks like they're not up there… _"I know another way around," she said. "Come on." She led Shulk and Reyn back the way they had come, keeping close to the cliff face.

"Won't there be Mechon there too?" Shulk asked warily.

"I don't think so," Sharla replied. "But it's worth a shot, right?" She glanced back at the boys and smiled.

They reached an opening in the cliff to their left. Sharla went in first, followed by a cautious Shulk and Reyn. "This is Kisk Cave," she told them. "Normally there's only vangs in here, but…"

Shulk nodded and unsheathed the Monado. "...There may be Mechon as well." Reyn pulled out his gunlance, and the three travellers continued through Kisk Cave, on high alert. Vangs flitted about their heads, but left the trio alone. They hit upon a small cavern, in which rested a huge ether deposit.

Shulk and Reyn stared up at the crystals in awe as they passed. _They're just like the ones in Tephra Cave, beside the Spring of Grief._ They walked through the cavern and into another corridor, which opened up on to a small, grass-covered cliff. On lower ground to their left was the Mechon blockade; to the right, the path extended between two tall cliff faces for a short while before curving out of sight.

Sharla started to lead the boys off to the right. "This will take us right up to the southern end of Raguel Bridge," Sharla told them. "Hopefully we'll be able to take out whatever Mechon are there without attracting the attention of the rest."

"Hopefully," Shulk agreed.

Sharla looked around curiously. "Strange. Normally there's a group of tirkins that hang out around here…"

"Tirkins?"

"They look a lot like chickens, but they're much bigger and carry weapons."

"Oh!" Reyn exclaimed. "We saw one of those when we first got here!"

Sharla laughed. "And what did you think?"

"They're so weird!"

"They're very strange," Shulk agreed. They party rounded the corner and spotted some Mechon below them and to their left. To the right was Raguel Bridge, which, they were happy to note, appeared to be devoid of Mechon. Jumping down the cliff face off to their right allowed them to avoid any Mechon clashes completely, and so, carefully, they did just that.

The grin slid off everyone's faces as they approached the bridge. "Hey, Sharla! Look!" Reyn pointed.

Dread clutched at Sharla. "It's Juju's buggy." She, Reyn and Shulk all ran forward to get a better look.

Of the mind to inspect the buggy, Shulk reached out for it and found himself greeted by a vision.

He saw a huge stone spire rising from a chasm in the ground; around the spire twisted what looked like a rocky walkway that one could almost use to trek from top to bottom. The vision changed, and Shulk saw a rocky bridge connecting the spire to the land around it. At the end of it stood a humanoid figure.

The vision changed to a close-up of the figure, and Shulk realised it was Juju, holding on to a rifle. The boy stood where he was, looking around cautiously, when something suddenly tore through the ground beside him. A new angle showed Shulk that it was the stalks he had seen in a vision back at the refugee camp. The propellers at its end opened and rushed towards Juju…

"Juju!" Shulk cried.

Reyn spun around. "What is it!?" he demanded.

"It's Juju!"

Sharla turned. "Shulk! Is he OK?!" When Shulk hesitated, she became more agitated. "Tell me!"

"There's a Mechon…" Shulk began. "It's taken Juju!" Sharla whimpered.

"When?!" Reyn demanded.

"I'm… I'm not sure," said Shulk. "But I don't think we've got much time."

"You said you saw a deep valley, didn't you?" Sharla asked.

"Yes."

"There's a place like that just up ahead," said Sharla breathlessly. "And it's even on the way to Colony 6. That must be the route Juju's taking."

"You sure?" said Reyn. "No other deep valleys around here?"

"Not as far as I know," Sharla replied.

"Well, Shulk?" prompted Reyn.

"Let's move," said Shulk. "That has to be where Juju is." And with that, the trio set off across Raguel Bridge to the north-east. At either end of the bridge were pale yellow columns which were anchored in the lake below. Grey railings lined the edges of the bridge. _This bridge is huge!_ It stretched across the entire lake below them; all Shulk could see under it was water.

At the end of the bridge they hit upon a path. They walked along it for a short while when Reyn suddenly turned to Sharla. "Is this the place you were on about?"

"This is it all right," said Sharla. "At the end of the road, there's a path to Colony 6."

"But there's no sign of Juju." said Shulk. "If my vision was right, he should be around here somewhere."

"I'm sure he would have gone along this road," Sharla replied. "I just hope nothing's happened to him yet." _Yet. _Sharla hadn't meant to say that. _Am I starting to believe in Shulk's visions?_

"Any chance he went up that way?" Where the path changed direction and snaked off to the east, Reyn pointed instead north-east, indicating what Sharla recognised as the entrance to Windy Cave.

"It's not safe around here," Sharla told Reyn. "I doubt Juju would go off the beaten track if he could avoid it." _And besides, the monsters in there are way too powerful._

"Got it. We'll search around the road." With that, Shulk and the other two struck east, weapons out and on the lookout for Juju or any wandering Mechon. Cliffs closed in around them as they walked, narrowing their path. In clusters up ahead were Mechon; Shulk recognised M72, M69 and M31 units.

Reyn groaned. "Are we going to have to sneak past them all!?"

Shulk assessed the situation. The M31 scouts and M69 units were patrolling; the M72 never strayed from their positions. "We may be able to sneak past them," he muttered.

"How?" Sharla asked quickly.

"We can hide behind the trees and bushes, and then run when through they're patrolling in the other direction," Shulk explained. "The ones on the path are looking straight ahead, so I don't think they'll notice us. We should be able to slip by."

Reyn nodded. "Then we stick to the walls. Let's go."

The trio crept along the southern cliff face, watching the movements of the Mechon carefully and moving when they could. _There's no way we could take them all on,_ Shulk thought. The space between the rocky walls widened as they walked.

Four tense Mechon clusters later, Shulk, Reyn and Sharla found themselves on the upper level of the Bionis' Leg. The path they had been following twisted to the south-east, continuing to Colony 6. To their east was a large waterfall, which Sharla told them was known as the Kasharpa Falls. To their north was a huge spire made of rock jutting out of the ground.

Shulk found that he recognised the rocky spire. "That's what I saw in my vision!" he blurted, pointing.

"Spiral Valley," Sharla muttered. She hesitated. "Are you sure, Shulk? That's the opposite direction to Colony 6. Juju would have no reason to go there."

"That looks exactly like the place I saw in my vision," Shulk protested.

"Maybe Juju was lured there by something," said Reyn impatiently. "If that's where Shulk says he is, then that's where he is. So let's get going!" He marched off without waiting for a reply. Shulk quickly followed.

_He sure seems confident…_ Sharla glanced at the road to Colony 6 and then, with a curse, followed Shulk and Reyn north to Spiral Valley.

No Mechon waited for them on their way north. As they approached, they spotted the most unusual Mechon they had ever seen.

The machine had a clearly defined central body with two different portions. The lower, golden half of the Mechon was the one from which all of its mechanical tentacles sprouted; with a jolt, Shulk realised they were the ones he had seen grasping Juju and Sharla. The upper, green-blue portion of its body had three long legs sprouting from it, which it used to keep itself steady. This half of the body also featured three beady red eyes, characteristic of many Mechon. Each of the tentacles ended in a three-pronged propeller, and had its own eye set into the top.

Juju was yelling as he tried to dodge the Mechon's attacks. "Juju!" Sharla sped up, leaving Reyn and Shulk to catch up. "Juju!" She stopped; Juju was unconscious, held within one of the propellers. "Hold on, I'm coming!" She started to run again.

The scene looked horribly familiar to Shulk. "Wait! Sharla!" Time slowed, and he watched as one of the machine's tentacles emerged from the ground beneath Sharla's feet and knocked her flying. As she fell, she cried Juju's name. A propeller snapped shut on her body. Sharla screamed.

The Monado shone with a brightness Shulk had not seen since the end of his travels in Tephra Cave. He stopped dead in his tracks, dumbfounded. "Another new symbol's appeared on the Monado!" His mind was racing. "Can I save her?"

A familiar voice spoke in Shulk's mind. _Of course you can._

With a roar, Shulk sprinted across the rocky bridge, leaving Reyn behind. He leapt high into the air, slamming the Monado on to the ground before him. Blue light sped across the area, shimmering around himself, Reyn, and Sharla.

Sharla heard a rumbling behind her; she glanced back and sidestepped whatever was making its way towards her. She moved far faster than she had expected, and felt a chill run down her spine as a mechanical tentacle thrust out of the ground beside her, just missing her.

Before she could recover her wits, the mechanical stalk was severed. There stood Shulk, watching the thing writhe and sink back into the ground. "Shulk?!"

"Its tentacles could come out from under the ground at any second," Shulk advised. He and Reyn were standing on either side of Sharla, facing outwards and slowly circling her, on the lookout for their foe. "One false move and you're done for. Wait for my order!" He glanced behind him. "Reyn, you got my back?"

Reyn looked back at Shulk. "'Course! Leave it to me!"

Shulk looked over to his right and saw two tentacles protruding from the ground. He dashed towards them and found himself experiencing another vision.

A tentacle burst out of the ground in Shulk's path; the other two twirled around each other before one rose and let some fireballs loose at Shulk. It moved in to grasp him.

Shulk gritted his teeth as he was pulled back to the present. _I have to time it just right…_ Shulk hopped and then turned and skidded across the ground; when the tentacle burst from the rock, Shulk merely sliced it through with the Monado as he slid past it.

Shulk dashed over to the other two tentacles and sliced one through. The other continued on its path and rose; Shulk yelled as he rolled to get away from the fireballs it launched at him. He regained his footing just as it came flying towards him; he leaned back to avoid the propellers and then cut them off with the Monado.

Reyn dodged the propellers that Shulk had cut so they bounced past him. He cried out and just managed to dodge a tentacle as it burst from the ground beneath him. More came up as he ran, bursting out of the ground and then crashing back into it.

Sharla had her hands full with two tentacles as they twisted and coiled around her; she fired her ether bullets at them, but to no avail. From seemingly nowhere, Reyn leapt on to one of them and sliced of its end; the other retreated.

Sharla jumped and landed right beside Shulk. "Amazing! I didn't know you could do that!"

"It's not me." Shulk's eye were fixed on his foe. "It's the power of the Monado."

Reyn joined Shulk and Sharla. "That's right. And the light swirling around us… That's the Monado 'n' all." Reyn glanced back. "Sharla! Let's move!" He looked up at the giant Mechon before him. "Now, let's do this!"


	14. A New Face

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk, Reyn and Sharla tensed as they stood facing the tentacled Mechon. The rock they were standing on twisted around a central stony tower that was anchored in the earth far below them. This pattern was what gave the place its name: Spiral Valley.

_We have to get at its main body._ Shulk glanced at his foe's appendages; long and thin, attached to a central commanding body. A tentacle flicked his way; he and his companions dodged it, and Reyn cut it through with his gunlance.

After a short battle in which the Mechon lost two more tentacles, the trio slowly backed away as it stopped moving. Its red eyes closed and the three legs it had been using to stand up were brought in, closer to its body. "Is it down?!" Reyn asked.

Even as he spoke, the Mechon once again sprung to life. It stuck its tentacles into the stone above it, and like some kind of insect, stalked on to the top of rocky formation and out of sight.

"Get back here!" shouted Reyn.

"It's up there!" Shulk pointed. "Let's go after it!"

"Right!" Reyn led the way up a short ramp that spiralled around the central pillar. The Mechon sat in the centre of the stony platform and started to move as they approached. They spotted Juju caught in one of its claws.

Shulk counted four remaining tentacles sprouting from its body, with three more anchoring it to the ground. "Reyn! Sharla!" Shulk called. "If we can take out the parts holding it up, it won't be able to move!"

"We need to get Juju out before then, or he might be crushed!" Sharla exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Reyn assured her, "Shulk and I will get 'im out."

The party closed in on the Mechon. A tentacle shot out at Reyn; he sidestepped it and sliced it through with his gunlance. Another went for Sharla; she dodged it and loosed some ether bullets from her rifle. Shulk dashed in and severed it, and it bounced across the platform and fell out of sight.

Shulk found himself starting to slow down. _So it only lasts for a short amount of time._ As Shulk prepared to use the Monado again, one of the remaining tentacles flicked towards Reyn and knocked him flying. "Reyn!"

Reyn tumbled across the ground, eventually managing to stop himself. _Damn…_ He glanced behind him and saw the edge of the platform not too far away.

Reyn grimaced at the sound of an explosion very close at hand, and felt energy flowing through his body at a rapid pace. He peeked over the top of his shield and saw Shulk and Sharla covered in a blue aura; looking down, he grinned as he saw it covering himself as well. He also noticed the head of one of the Mechon's tentacles lying in front of him, riddled with dents. _Must've been Sharla's work._

Reyn dashed over to Shulk and Sharla. The only remaining tentacle was the one holding Juju. Fireballs were loosed at the trio, and they were forced to leap out of the way. Sharla fired at the Mechon with her rifle while Shulk and Reyn ran towards it. Shulk jumped into the air, bringing the Monado down on the final tentacle. As he did so, the propellor at its end opened. "Reyn!" he shouted.

As if he had been reading his friend's mind, Reyn leapt in front of the opening propellor and caught Juju. The two of them rolled across the ground as the Mechon exploded under Sharla's ether bullets.

Sharla quickly put away her rifle and hurried towards Reyn and her brother. "Juju! Are you all right?!"

Juju slowly pulled away from Reyn to look up at his sister. "Sharla…" He turned away. "I'm sorry." He stood as Sharla approached and didn't complain when she slapped him.

Despite herself, Sharla couldn't help but feel relieved to see Juju unharmed. She embraced him. "I'm so glad you're OK."

Reyn was still sitting on the ground, happy to see the family reunited. He looked back at Shulk. "Hey! Looks like we changed the future!" When Shulk didn't respond, Reyn's smile waned. "What's up?"

"Well, it's just that…" Shulk hated to be the one to point it out, "That can't have been the Mechon from my vision." He looked back at the remains of the Mechon on the ground.

Reyn stood and began to walk towards Shulk. "Yeah, weren't it supposed to be that one with the face?" He grinned. "I guess we changed more than we expected!" His friend didn't appear to agree. "Shulk?"

"No." Shulk faced Reyn. "Something's not right." As he spoke, a large ether bullet exploded on the platform. A huge bronze-coloured Mechon that looked like some kind of ship hovered above them; it changed its shape to that of a humanoid before dropping into the middle of the platform.

"No!" Shulk realised. "It's not him at all!" Shulk thought this new Mechon looked rather like a beetle, with huge structures on its back that reminded him of a beetle's hard wings. It had a stocky body shape; a short machine with thick arms and legs. Similar to the silver-faced Mechon, red lines ran along its entire body.

As it turned to face him and Reyn, his friend cried out, "But this one's got a face 'n' all!"

The bottom half of the Mechon's face moved in a way that resembled a jaw.

"I've been waiting for you! Monado boy."

"What? It spoke!" Shulk was dumbfounded. He and Reyn were forced to jump backwards as it dropped its foot on them.

"The way Metal Face scarpered I thought you'd have to be this big scary monster. But look. You're just some pathetic little kid!" The Mechon drew back its arm, showing off the huge hammer it used as a weapon. It then slammed it down on Shulk and Reyn, who jumped aside to avoid being crushed.

Shulk dashed in and hit it with the Monado, but just like with the other faced Mechon, the red sword simply bounced straight off its armour. He could hear Reyn yelling, and Sharla's rifle as she fired at the machine. Shulk quickly ran back to the other two, shaking his head.

"No good again?" Reyn asked.

"No." Shulk looked up at the faced Mechon as it turned away from him, Reyn and Sharla. To their horror, it picked up Juju.

"Juju!" Sharla yelled.

"You pile of junk!" shouted Reyn. He led the renewed charge against the Mechon. "Let him go!"

Its eyes, Shulk noticed, had started to flash red. "Reyn!" he called. "Better watch your back!"

"Got it!" Two Mechon M31 units fell from the sky, which Reyn immediately took care of. "Cheers Shulk!"

"You little!" The faced Mechon grunted as it swung its hammer. Shulk ducked, and then took a long step forward to avoid another attack. He swung his own weapon at the Mechon's leg, but once again, the Monado had no effect. Shulk quickly stepped back as the Mechon raised its foot and brought it down on Shulk. He then rolled to avoid its hammer as it slammed into the ground where he had been standing a few seconds before.

Shulk ran around the outside of the platform, watching the faced Mechon carefully. "Why? Why can't I use the Monado?!" He and the Mechon stared each other down. "It's only the ones that have faces. But…" Shulk ducked and felt the wind from his opponent's hammer as it whistled past his head, "I can still see what it's going to do! Just like before!"

The Mechon's hammer hit the ground behind Shulk as it spoke again. "Nice tricks you got there, pipsqueak!" It dragged its weapon across the ground behind Shulk, before it lifted it off the ground again. "Darting around the place! That the Monado's power?" It took its time walking towards Shulk, seeming to savour the moment. "Won't matter, you're still flesh and blood, and I reckon you're nearly done!"

An M31 unit appeared out of nowhere and tried to spear Shulk, but Reyn appeared just as inexplicably and knocked the thing out of the air with his shield.

"Behind you!" taunted the Mechon, as more M31 unites dropped from the sky around the two friends.

"Shulk!" Reyn called. "Leave these to me! Go take him out!" He nodded to the faced Mechon.

"Got it!" Shulk left Reyn with the M31 and made his way towards his target. The Mechon lowered its fist to punch Shulk; he just managed to block the blow with the Monado, much to the amusement of his opponent.

Shulk felt as if he'd just bruised every part of his body. He crouched on the ground, unable to move, as the faced Mechon brought its hammer down on him.

Shulk heard the sound of a rifle and felt the Mechon's hammer hit the ground next to him, landing less than a quarter of a metre from his leg. Both he and the Mechon looked to see Sharla, gun poised. "Now!" she shouted.

"Right!" Reyn dashed in to attack and was frustrated when he did no harm. "It's just bouncing off 'im!"

Suddenly, the faced Mechon leapt into the air, hammer raised above its head. "That was fun for a while." It paused in the air for a moment. "But now I'm bored!" It crashed back on to the ground, slamming its hammer on to the platform. The air it whipped up was so strong the party found themselves pushed back to the edge of the platform.

"Sharla!" Juju screamed. His sister's rifle lay on the ground; the woman herself was holding on to the edge of the platform with one hand, trying desperately not to lose her grip. The boys tried to go and help, but a large bronze leg blocked their way.

"Time to finish you off!" It raised its hammer high above its head.

"Shulk!" Reyn yelled. "Look out!"

Even as Reyn shouted, Shulk noticed a change in their foe. The red lines running through its body turned green, and then stopped. To everyone's astonishment, it lowered its hammer and began to slowly back away. "Looks like my time here's up. It's your lucky day, little boy! But that luck won't last forever." With a laugh, it showed them Juju still squirming in its hand. "I'll keep hold of this brat. If you want him back, you'd better come to Colony 6. But you'll have to be quick. I'm feeling hungry!"

"You!" shouted Reyn. "You're gonna pay!"

The faced Mechon laughed as it prepared to leave. "I can't wait to grind you all into dust!" With that, it started to gain altitude.

Juju began to panic as the Mechon rose higher and higher. "Sharla! Sharla!" He watched as the stone platform grew smaller beneath him. "No!" The Mechon on the platform followed their leader as it transformed and sped off to the east, towards Colony 6.

Sharla was finally able to haul herself back on to the platform of stone. She turned her eyes to the sky, where the Mechon had fled. "Juju…" Overcome by exhaustion, Sharla fell forward on to the rock and knew no more.


	15. Memories

Sharla and Juju were hiding in a metal bunker in Colony 6's Ether Mines, waiting for further orders. The roof was shaking, and dust trickled from above.

They heard footsteps, and a blonde-haired man with a serious face came into sight. "Gadolt!" Sharla hurried over to him.

Gadolt passed his rifle to Sharla. "It's only been a year since the Battle of Sword Valley," he commented. Sharla began to examine the weapon. "How? How did their numbers grow so quickly?" Sharla, finished with her inspection, hugged the rifle to her chest.

"Are their numbers too great even for you, Gadolt?" A brown-skinned man with a white beard strolled into the bunker, clutching his own rifle.

"Otharon." Sharla watched the old man as he stood still, lost in thought.

Otharon looked to Sharla. "Medic Sharla, here are your new orders." Sharla straightened up, paying close attention to the man's next words. "You and Juju are to ready the evac ships. You will be in charge of the evacuation."

Sharla and Juju looked at each other, stunned. "But…" Sharla began, but Otharon raised a hand, cutting her off.

"You must realise, the ships can only carry so many." Otharon lowered his arm. "We must stay behind and fight to protect those who remain in Colony 6."

Sharla looked wordlessly at Gadolt. She had so many things she wanted to say, but found the words stuck in her throat. He broke the silence.

"I'll be fine." Gadolt smiled softly at his partner. "I'll be able to keep my mind on the battle knowing you're safe."

Sharla's grip on the rifle tightened. Gadolt reached out a hand to touch her when she suddenly turned to face him. "Promise me," she said fiercely.

Gadolt's hand was still outstretched. "Sharla…" he lowered his arm.

"Promise me that you'll meet us outside the colony," Sharla continued. She hugged the rifle closer to her chest, "I…" She held the weapon out to Gadolt. "Just make sure you get out of here alive!" She stared at him fiercely, and Gadolt held her gaze.

Finally, he dropped his eyes to his rifle. "Yeah." He took the gun from Sharla's hand. "I promise." He turned and began to leave the bunker, his rifle leaning on his shoulder. "Don't worry." Before Sharla knew it, Gadolt was around the corner and out of sight.

A few hours later, Sharla and Juju were at the pod depot south of colony 6, loading the evacuation ships with supplies and soon-to-be-refugees. Sharla looked wistfully to the colony. _Gadolt. A promise is a promise. And until I see you again, I will protect everyone._ In her mind's eye, Sharla saw Gadolt walking out of that bunker and into a wall of flame, hand raised in farewell. A terribly familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

_No, let me protect everyone!_

Sharla saw the faced Mechon she had encountered at Sword Valley, Juju struggling in its grip. "Sharla!" he shouted.

"I keep 'em real safe!" boomed the Mechon. "Inside my belly!"

"Sharla!" Juju cried.

"Juju!" came Sharla's answering wail.

Her eyes opened and Sharla sat up sharply, arm outstretched. She was lying in her normal bed within the cave the refugees used for a camp. _Just… a dream…_

Sharla began to sob. "Where are you…" she wrapped her arms around herself and began to cry.

After she had recovered from the initial shock of her dream, Sharla donned her battle gear, slung her rifle about her shoulders and made for the cave's exit. I'll go and find Juju and Gadolt and free Colony 6, if it's the last thing I do. As she was leaving the camp, she was surprised to find Reyn and Shulk talking in low voices. They turned to her as she approached.

"Hey there," said Shulk gently. "Are you all right?"

"The sleeping princess awakes," Reyn commented. "Had us worried there for a minute."

Sharla got the impression she was being mocked and was about to snap back, but refrained and turned away from the boys. None of this is their fault. Taking a deep breath, she instead faced them again and asked, "How long have I been out?"

"Huh?"

Finding it difficult to keep a measured tone, Sharla rephrased. "How long have I been unconscious?!"

"Four hours, I'd say," replied Shulk.

_That's too long._ "I've gotta get out of here!" Sharla started to walk off, but the boys cut her off.

"Hold up!" Reyn exclaimed.

"Mind if we go with you?" Shulk asked.

Sharla looked from him to Reyn, dumbfounded.

"You're going to bust into their base, right?" said Reyn. "We want a piece of them too."

"Really…?" They really… want to help me…?

"Truth be told, we were gonna leave without you," Reyn said to Sharla. "But the thing is… I get roughed up a lot and we don't know anyone else who can use ether." Sharla looked to Shulk, who nodded.

Sharla turned away from the two of them. _So they only waited because they felt they had no choice?_ "I… thank you both." The three of them struck north, out of the refugee camp. Sharla felt more ashamed with every step she took, until she was compelled to stop at the edge of the camp. _I shouldn't be so suspicious of them. They just want to help the colony, and Juju, and… me._ "It's been a while…" she began. "And it's just… I never imagined I would go back to Colony 6 like this." Shulk and Reyn looked away, unsure how to respond. She glanced back at them. "I'm sorry. Lost myself for a minute." She strengthened her voice and continued. "We can get to Colony 6 from the valley where Juju was taken." Sharla turned to lead the boys out of the camp. "It's this way." She, Shulk and Reyn started to retrace their steps, heading east, back the way they had gone when they set out to find Juju.

The Mechon which had been stationed across the Bionis' Leg had were missing. _They must have returned with the Faced Mechon that took Juju._ The trio were grateful that they wouldn't need to avoid the machines again.

On the upper level of the Bionis' Leg, Shulk and Reyn made to turn left and head north to Spiral Valley, but Sharla stopped them.

"We need to keep heading this way," Sharla told the boys, pointing towards the Kasharpa Falls to the east.

Reyn frowned. "I thought you said we can get to Colony 6 from Spiral Valley."

"C'mon Reyn," said Shulk, "I'm sure Sharla knows where she's going." He looked at her. "Right Sharla?"

Sharla nodded. "We'll walk towards the falls and then start to head south-east. That'll lead us through Bask Cave, and once we make it through there, we'll be in Colony 6."

"Well," muttered Reyn, "if you say so."

Sharla looked between the boys. "Should we keep going then?" When the two nodded, she turned and led the way towards Bask Cave.

Bask Cave ran almost straight, with a slight slant that eventually caused it to run south. Sharla informed the boys that it was this way because it had been tunnelled by curious explorers when Homs had first arrived in Colony 6. This had led to the discovery of the Bionis' Leg, and, eventually, the formation of Colony 9.

"How would they even have known where to go?" Shulk wondered.

Sharla shrugged. "I have no idea. I imagine they wanted to see how far down the Bionis goes, but outside of that…"

The trio soon found their way outside of the cave. To their left was a cliff face; contrasting that on their right was a sheer drop. Straight ahead were the high walls of Colony 6.

"This is Colony 6?" Shulk asked.

"It's like a fortress," Reyn commented. "Did people really live here?"

It's not meant to be like that. "So much has changed… It's only been a month." Sharla stared at the huge walls surrounding her home that were definitely not there when she left.

"We'll find Juju and then smash some metal!" exclaimed Reyn.

"Wait!" Shulk quickly turned around. "We can't just rush in."

"We could enter through the mine." Sharla looked down at the drop beside them.

"Mine?" Shulk repeated.

"There's a massive ether deposit under the colony," said Sharla. "The first settlers here built right on top of the mine. That's how we got our colony. The mine is like a network of tunnels. It's much more complicated than the colony streets. They can't have figured it all out in the space of a month."

"So…" Reyn was trying to figure out what Sharla was getting at.

"She means it's the best route if we want to remain unseen," said Shulk.

"You're catching on," smiled Sharla.

"Great!" Reyn exclaimed. "So how do we get in?"

"Through the Drainage Outlet," Sharla replied. "It's just up ahead." With that, she turned and led the boys off to the right.


	16. Into the Ether Mines

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Sharla led Shulk and Reyn north, towards an elevator that would take them down to the level of the Drainage Outlet that made for the entrance to the Ether Mines. Exiting the elevator, they found themselves facing the Mechonis, its sword looming large over them.

The boys found themselves overcome with a slight bout of vertigo as they stared at the thin rocky paths, surrounded on either side by nothing but a drop into the endless sea. The paths made Reyn think of very thin fingers, reaching out to touch the cliff face. They criss-crossed one another, some higher up to the top of the cliff than others.

Sharla began to walk along the path. Shulk and Reyn looked at each other. "Relax, just stick to the middle and you'll be fine." The two reluctantly followed her.

Reyn kept his eyes on the back of Sharla's head. _Don't look down._ "What's this place called?" he asked, trying to keep himself distracted.

"Splintered Path," Sharla replied. "You can probably guess why."

_Yes, yes I can._

The path dipped down slightly as they walked, before levelling out. The path split off to their left, but Sharla led them onwards. It split again, and this time Sharla followed it left as it went uphill. She then took another right, and the boys found they could see their destination up ahead.

"Is this the Drainage Outlet?" Shulk asked as they approached a huge bronze pipe that tunnelled into the rock.

Sharla nodded. "We should be able to sneak into Colony 6 through here."

"Well then, shall we get going then?" Reyn prompted. Sharla glanced at him, and then led the way into the mines. Lizard-like creatures with lanterns hanging from their heads scurried across the floor of the drainage tunnel. Upas, Sharla called them. She led the boys up a flight of stairs and into the Drainage Control Room. It was small, and filled with metal containers holding equipment used for mining ether.

Sharla was surprised to find a couple of Nopon merchants alive inside. _The Mechon can't have made it this far, then._

Talking to the Nopon confirmed this idea. They said had been living in Colony 9 for a while; when they tried to return to their village, they had found Colony 6 overrun by Mechon and been unable to proceed. They had then descended into the mines to hide from the machines.

_It's even affecting the Nopon._ Sharla thanked the merchants for their time and headed with Shulk and Reyn into the next part of the mine. They began to walk across a metal floor suspended on the rock, when Sharla stopped abruptly at the top of a flight of stairs leading down to the ground. She quickly knelt down. "Guys! Kill the noise."

Shulk and Reyn followed Sharla's gaze and were startled to see an M63 unit on patrol. "A Mechon." The machine moved out of sight.

"I can't believe they've taken the mine too!" muttered Sharla. "That means the Defence Force and residents are…" She slowly got to her feet. "Oh no, Juju!"

"Keep it together, Sharla!" exclaimed Reyn. "Don't start panicking now."

"Reyn…"

"You said yourself, they can't have seized the entire area, right?" he continued. "I bet you they're holed up someplace safe. Juju is alive," Reyn's tone took on a determined edge, "and we're gonna find him."

"That's why we're here," said Shulk. "You can count on us."

Sharla looked between the boys, overwhelmed by their support and willingness to so help a stranger. "Yes, it'll be fine. Reyn… Shulk… Thank you."

Shulk smiled, and Reyn nodded. "So," said Reyn, "where do we go now?"

Sharla looked thoughtfully at the corridor through which the Mechon had disappeared. "We need to go deeper into the mine. I'll lead the way, since I'm the only one of us who knows these tunnels." She looked back at the boys. "That sound all right to you?"

"Yep."

"Okay."

Sharla nodded and began leading Shulk and Reyn through the twists and turns of the mine's tunnels. _Follow the green moss…_ They had barely rounded the first bend when they froze; up ahead at a three-way junction lurked a Mechon. It was one of the spindle-legged M42 scout units, on patrol.

"What do we do?" Reyn whispered.

"Wait to see what it does," Sharla replied quietly. "We need to go right here, so if it goes left…" The trio watched from afar as the machine paused at the junction before slowly making its way off to the left. Sharla breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on. Let's go before it comes back." She hurried towards the junction and turned right, Shulk and Reyn in tow.

Two more Mechon floated ahead. They looked like M31 units, but seemed slightly different to Shulk; he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Sharla glanced at the opening in the wall to the left of the Mechon, which glowed green. _That's where we need to go._ She pulled out her rifle. "We're going to have to take these two out. We need to head through that tunnel off to the left."

Reyn looked at the cave ahead of them; it stretched on for a short distance and then twisted out of sight. "Maybe they'll go the other way?" he suggested.

Sharla shook her head. "It's a dead-end. They don't have any need to go down there if they've been sitting on that location."

Shulk drew the Monado; Reyn, his gunlance. Shulk cast Enchant, and the trio quickly dispatched the Mechon. Sharla then led the boys south, through another area of moss-covered walls.

The three homs halted, startled by the sound of fire up ahead. "An ether rifle?" _Maybe it's…_ "Gadolt!" Sharla immediately took off towards the sound, leaving her companions behind.

"Sharla, wait!" called Reyn. He and Shulk hurried after her and stumbled into a small room which had been fitted out with a metallic homs-built platform. It was connected to their level by a short flight of stairs. The place was swarming with M31 and M42 Mechon; Sharla was firing her rifle when they entered.

"Gadolt!" Sharla cried. She took aim and loosed another bullet at an M42.

A brown-skinned man with a white beard was crouching behind a container in the Ether Mine's storage depot. "I know that voice," he muttered. He looked out from behind his shelter. "Medic, is that you?!" He quickly ducked back behind his refuge as a Mechon fired at him.

"Otharon!" Sharla hurried down the stairs towards him, shooting at a scout unit on the way.

"That's our cue, Reyn!" Shulk was quick to follow Sharla on to the platform, his best friend hot on his heels.

"Oh yeah!" Reyn followed Shulk as his friend slid in front of Sharla and Otharon, weapon raised. Reyn joined him, standing between the Colony 6 residents and the Mechon. "There's only four of 'em," he observed, grinning. "Piece of cake!" He looked to his friend. "Shulk?"

"Right." Shulk swung the Monado, casting Enchant on his allies as he assessed the situation. They were up against two Mechon M31 units, an M42 Scout Unit and an M69.

His friend's words proved true. With even numbers and the power of the Monado, the Mechon were quickly dispatched. _Where's Gadolt?_ wondered Sharla.

Otharon inspected the Mechons' broken bodies before addressing Sharla. "Medic. Why are you here?" He sounded surprised to see her.

"Sir. Isn't Gadolt with you?"

Otharon slowly walked away from sharla. _How do I tell her…_ "We have much to discuss." He turned to face her. "You'd better come with me."

"Sir." Sharla and the boys followed Otharon into the old mining base. The rocky corridor had caved in in the time Sharla had been away, and was now accessed via a new tunnel through the wall. Once there, Sharla told Otharon all that had happened in his absence.

Otharon considered all he had been told. "So, Juju has been taken by the bronze-faced one."

"Sir," said Sharla, "what about Gadolt?"

I can't put this off. Otharon turned to face Sharla, grim. "Gadolt is gone."

"Gone?!" Sharla echoed, not quite believing it. "What do you mean gone?"

Otharon cast his memories back, and began to recount the tale. "Gadolt and I planned a surprise attack to set everyone free. But we failed…" the old man's voice turned bitter, "miserably. When I woke, Gadolt was nowhere to be seen." He looked to the weapon leaning on a machine behind him. "Only his rifle remained." Otharon stared at the ground. "But he is alive. I can feel it. We may not be joined by blood, but he's like a son to me. I'd know if he were dead."

Sharla turned away, unable to even conceive such a thought.

"Some of the people in Colony 9 got eaten…" Reyn commented.

"Reyn!" hissed Shulk.

Reyn looked between Sharla and Shulk and immediately felt guilty. "Sorry. Forget I said that."

Otharon hadn't taken his eyes off Sharla. "They don't kill Homs right away. If that bronze-faced one took him, we still have some time left."

"Are you sure?" Shulk asked.

Otharon turned to Shulk, looking at him properly for the first time. "Boy, that blade was once Dunban's. I'm not sure why you have it, but we're going to need its full power."

"You can count on me," Shulk replied.

Otharon nodded. "We're heading for the Central Pit. It's where they take all the Homs they kidnap. If Juju's alive, that's where he'll be. Gather your things. We're moving out."

As Otharon moved away, Shulk experienced a vision.

Otharon was standing on what looked like a mobile artillery, his rifle pointing down into some kind of pit. He opened his mouth and began to yell.

"Juju! Gadolt!" Suddenly he was falling into the pit, at the bottom of which lay a river of ether. "This is for you!"

"What?" Shulk fell back into reality with a shock. "What?"

Reyn glanced at Shulk, who had a troubled expression on his face. "You say something, Shulk?"

"N- No," Shulk said quickly. "It's nothing. Forget it." He followed Otharon out of the mining base with Reyn and Sharla, trying to figure out what the vision meant, and what he could do to stop it.


	17. Impatience

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

Shulk, Reyn, Sharla and Otharon exited the Mining Base via a tunnel in the rock, coming out into the Storage Depot where they had previously fought a group of Mechon. Otharon led the party down a flight of stairs; to their right were piles and piles of large metal containers. Otharon led them left and down another two flights of stairs.

Shulk lagged behind the other three, his mind on his recent visions. At the bottom of the stage, Reyn was already fed up with his friend's slow stroll. "Hurry it up, slowcoach!"

"What's wrong?" Sharla asked.

Otharon left them to sort it out amongst themselves. _I'll go and survey the area. _

Shulk could hear the man's voice in his head, see the ether river in his mind's eye.

_Juju! Gadolt! This is for you!_

_What can it mean?_ Shulk wondered. _"This is for you." Is Juju already dead? Or is he going to be killed? Is that why Otharon…_

Sharla and Reyn followed Otharon, leaving Shulk to his thoughts on the stairway.

_But then… What does that mean?_ Shulk's shoulders sagged as his train of thought concluded. _If we keep moving, is Otharon really going to die?_ Shulk dashed down the stairs, skidding to a stop behind his companions. "No!"

"What's wrong, Shulk?" Reyn asked.

"This battle is for my people," Otharon said flatly. "If you can't handle it, drop that weapon and head home."

"That's not it!" Shulk scrambled for an explanation. "I… It's just that…" _I should have thought this through!_

"Out with it!" barked Otharon, crossing his arms.

"Listen…" Shulk began. "Maybe we shouldn't just rush in head first."

"What?" Otharon unfolded his arms. He could feel himself losing patience.

"We got this far," Reyn pointed out.

"I think we should observe them, and plan our attack afterwards," Shulk suggested.

_How dare he…_ Otharon snapped. "You insolent… We don't have that kind of time! You don't know a damn thing about these machines." He turned away from Shulk. "I have observed their movements. I've planned this attack for a month! I know full well what's going to happen to my brothers and sisters!"

"It's just…" _What do I say now?_

Otharon was done listening to the blonde-haired boy. "We're going. Fall in, Medic." He continued on his way.

"Sir!" As Otharon walked away, Sharla turned to Shulk. "What's got into you?"

"I…"

Reyn faced Shulk as well, his tone grim. "A vision again?" When Shulk didn't reply, he continued. "Don't tell me, another death?"

"Yeah."

"I knew it," said Reyn. "The Shulk I know doesn't just chicken out for any old reason."

"This vision… Was it like before?" asked Sharla.

"Kind of," replied Shulk. "I saw an underground ether river. And Otharon…" his voice trailed off.

"An ether river," muttered Reyn. He looked up at Shulk. "You know what? That sword lets you see the future. All that power, and you still keep getting it wrong."

"Better to use my brain than my fists," said Shulk, stung.

Shulk turned away, seeing his point and annoyed at the fact that his friend was right. "OK, OK. I get the idea."

"I ain't done yet!" said Reyn sharply. "You're useless on your own, Shulk. That's why we're here."

Shulk faced Reyn again, indignant. "Reyn, I…"

Reyn talked right over the top of Shulk, ignoring his protests. "Next time you have a vision, tell us. We bear the burden together, as a team."

Shulk looked to the ground. _So that's what he was getting at._

"You have a vision you don't like," Reyn continued, "we'll change the future together. Got it?"

After a moment of silence, Shulk answered. "Got it."

"What was that! Say it like you mean it!"

"I got it, all right! Next time, I'll tell you."

Sharla spoke up. "He's right, Shulk. You two saved Juju once before. I know we can do it again. I believe in you."

"Thanks." _They're right. We'll change what happens._ Shulk's visions flashed througs his mind. _Anyway, I didn't see Juju and the others dying. There's still hope._

"What are you all dawdling for?" Otharon's voice echoed from the tunnel ahead.

"Shall we keep going?" asked Sharla.

Shulk nodded. "We probably shouldn't keep him waiting. Let's go." He, Reyn and Sharla left the stairs behind, heading after Otharon. A short stony corridor opened up into a small cavern which Sharla recognised as the Central Terminal. Carts on metal rails sat inside the cavern; the rails twisted into two rocky passageways and out of sight.

Otharon was standing by the entrance to the cavern. He pointed at the corridor on the right. "That's where we need to go," he said quietly, "but there are at least three Mechon down there. We'll need to destroy them in order to get through."

"So let's get going then!" exclaimed Reyn, tightening his grip on his gunlance.

Otharon gave Shulk a cool look. "Can we count on you not to waver, boy?"

Shulk nodded. He raised the Monado above his head and spun on the spot with a cry of "Monado Enchant!"

"All right!" Reyn led the charge against the Mechon with Shulk; Otharon and Sharla bringing up the rear with their rifles. The first Mechon the party came across was an M42 Scout Unit, which they quickly took out before it could run off to find reinforcements. Next came two M31 units – I swear they look different – which met their ends crushed beneath Reyn's shield and sliced in two by the Monado.

Otharon scowled at the path in front of them. It had collapsed into the tunnel below it, robbing them of their way forward. He sighed and addressed his companions. "This was the quickest way through, but it looks like it's been destroyed. We'll have to go around."

"Is it much farther to go around?" Shulk asked.

Otharon shook his head. "No. But we don't have much time as it is. Let's get a move on." He pushed past Shulk, heading back the way they had come and turning left. They followed the path as it led them through a rocky corridor, which then opened up into a small cavern filled with upas and lizards. They continued into a short corridor before coming up to a large metal gate.

Otharon cursed. _Of course it's locked._ He turned to Shulk, Reyn and Sharla. "We need to open this up. We'll be making a short detour to the switch. Let's move out." He led them back into the cavern, turning right and heading through a long stone corridor, which eventually opened up and granted the party a view of the central pit of the mines.

Shulk and Reyn were stunned by what they saw. Directly ahead of them lay what was the core to Colony 6's mine. A tall, cylindrical tower rose from the depths of the mine far, far below. Bridges branched from it, connecting it with various natural floors within the mine. Synthetic platforms acted as elevators between each level of the mine. The whole structure was rotating; the boys could see huge propellor-like blades slowly sweeping across the highest level of the pillar.

They jumped at the sounds of shifting metal nearby; Otharon and Sharla were out of sight. To their right, they could see the giant metallic door barring their way forward. They were astonished to see that the door was sinking into the ground; Sharla and Otharon reappeared on the path leading off to their right.

"What did you do!?" Reyn demanded.

"We hit the switch for the gate," Otharon replied. "Thankfully, the Mechon hadn't done anything to it."

"They must need it to get in and out, too," Shulk guessed.

Otharon nodded. "Now, let's head back to that door." He abruptly left, heading back the way they had come.

Reyn folded his arms, scowling. "What's his problem?"

Sharla glared at Reyn. "Probably has something to do with everyone he knows having been taken by the Mechon?"

Reyn unfolded his arms, embarrassed. "Right."

Sharla rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go." She followed Otharon through the mine's tunnels, Shulk and Reyn in tow. The gate's absence gave them a clear view of the pillar that was the mine's centre. A path to their right led to the pillar; directly ahead was a drop, straight into the river at the base of the mine.

Sharla turned to face the boys. "We're here… The Central Pit."

Reyn approached the steep cliff. He looked around, scratched his head. Then he turned to Sharla, looking confused. "Where are they all? I don't see anyone."

Sharla pointed out an elevator to the left of the gate. "We'll take that lift."

Reyn grinned. "I'm ready to mash some Mechon."

Shulk agreed. "Juju, Otharon… Just hold on!" They headed down the elevator, preparing to navigate the Mechon-filled area that was the Ether Mines' Central Pit.


	18. The Central Pit

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

Sharla led the party into the personnel lift, which took them down to the level below. They walked alongside a sheer drop to their left, with high, cold, stony walls towering above them to their right. Across the gap to their left was the corkscrew-like structure that was the backbone of the Ether Mines. Their goal was its base, where they believed the faced Mechon who had attacked them at Spiral Valley was not holding Juju. Bridging the gap between them and the corkscrew was a metallic bridge; several of them could be found in the mine, which allowed miners to get at the ether in the walls of the cave.

Up ahead were four Mechon. What Shulk thought were two M69 units, Otharon explained, were actually M53X models; very similar, but with differing power from their M69 counterparts. Similarly, the raindrop-shaped M31 up ahead were actually M32X units.

"How do you know so much about the Mechon?" Shulk quizzed him.

"Like I said, I've been observing them," Otharon growled. "Now let's destroy these machines and move on. We don't have much time."

The party lured the M53X units away from their hovering counterparts and quickly dispatched them using the Monado's power. They then charged the M32X and knocked them out as well, before making their way across the bridge to the central structure of the pit.

Reyn kicked one of the battered M32X units off the edge as he passed it; it was a long while before a thunk! echoed up from below. He grimaced as he followed his friends across the bridge.

The structure in the middle of the pit was turning, and four giant arms placed at equal intervals swept over their heads. "What are they for?" Reyn wondered aloud.

"It keeps the ether moving," Otharon growled. "That way the ether down there keeps circulating and churns up more for us to use."

_But did they have to put those things so close?_ Reyn flinched as one of the arms flew above his head. He and the others followed Otharon as he led them around the outside of the central structure, towards the next elevator that would take them down.

Otharon cursed when he spied an M64X ahead, flanked by two M32X; the M64X looked just like the claw-spinning M63 that Shulk had seen during the attack on Colony 9. "These blasted mines are crawling with Mechon!"

"Then we'll have to take 'em out," replied Reyn. "Shulk?"

Shulk nodded and cast Monado Enhcant on the party. Reyn charged in and blocked the M64X's first blow, giving Shulk a chance to run in and cut it down. Another M64X joined the fray, but it was quickly disposed of in a similar fashion. Afterwards, Sharla looked over the boys to ensure they were all relatively unharmed, and they moved on.

The party hit upon another bridge that would take them to the next personnel lift; they could see the lift itself a short distance away. They crossed it; Sharla shot down another M32X unit as it tried to flee. The elevator was to their left, as were a group of four Mechon; one M64X, two M53X and an M42 scout unit.

Otharon frowned at the roadblock, thinking hard. "They shouldn't cause us too much trouble, but there's more of them, so be careful." He tapped his rifle. "Take out the smaller ones first so we can fight the M64X together. Got it?" He nodded when they all confirmed their understanding. "Right then."

Shulk cast Enchant and Reyn dashed headlong into the fray, yelling at the machines as they turned to face him. As Shulk began to follow, an ether bullet whizzed past he and Reyn, piercing the eye piece of one of the M53X which then collapsed.

Reyn was unfazed; he blocked the first blow from the M64X and thrust its arm back, staggering it. Shulk blocked an attack from the remaining M53X and then sliced at it, severing one of its legs. He finished off the machine by slicing it in half, just as Reyn lopped off the claw of the M64X and tackled it to the ground, digging his shield into its neck. The M42 was unmoving; Sharla had already taken it out.

The way to the next personnel lift clear, the party headed down the personnel lift to the next level. Two Mechon patrolled the area before them; an M42 scout unit, and another variation of the M63. Its metallic body was a reddish brown, the claw replaced with a long ether-powered laser.

"That laser on the red one is powerful," Otharon muttered. "You boys are going to have to cut it off as soon as you can. Got it?"

The two friends nodded and readied themselves before dashing in to greet their foes. The red Mechon pointed its laser at the boys and began to charge a shot; an ether bullet from Otharon distracted it, allowing Reyn to jump on the machine with his lance. Shulk swiped at the M42 and brought it down even as Reyn destroyed the M67. "Not too much trouble," grinned Reyn, shaking the scraps of metal from his weapon.

Otharon approached the pair, Sharla in tow. "Good work. Now, let's keep going." He led the way forward, felling a couple more Mechon on the way. The path sloped downwards and then doubled back on itself to end at a bridge connecting it to the central corkscrew. The bridge opened up into a platform with three Mechon. One was another variant on the M69 model, the M55, while the other two were more M67. The party took out the M55 before moving on to the M67 and dispatching them as well.

Another platform lay ahead; at its entrance were two M67 units, with two flanking its exit up ahead as well. In between was an M42 scout, with an even larger M82 visible in the distance. Shulk and Reyn recalled the last time they had fought one of those, back in the Colony; it had ended with Reyn severing the machine's head.

Otharon looked out over the area in front of them, thinking. He turned to his companions. "This needs to be done quickly. Shulk, Reyn, I need the two of you to destroy the M67s closest to us, while the scout unit is near. Sharla and I will destroy the scout unit before it reports the attack to the other Mechon." He glanced across the platform ahead of them. "After that, we need to quickly take out the other M67 units… And then work on the M82." He grimaced. "I realise it's not much of a plan, but it's the best we can do." He looked to Sharla. "Medic Sharla, are you ready?"

Sharla nodded, raising her rifle and placing the M42 in her sights. "I'm ready."

Otharon mirrored her movements. "It's coming!" he barked at the boys. "Get ready!" Shulk and Reyn tensed, waiting for Otharon's word. "Now!"

As Shulk and Reyn ran forwards, ether bullets flew past their head, sinking into the body of the scout. The M67 units turned in time to see the boys' weapons come crashing down on their heads, cracking them open. This caught the attention of the three Mechon opposite them, who then began to hurry towards the party.

Sharla and Otharon fired at the M67, managing to bring one down before it could do anything. The other traded shots with them as the M82 fronted Shulk and Reyn, spinning the saw on its arms.

The M82 took a swing at Reyn, who deflected the blow with his shield. Shulk dashed in and swung at the machine's legs, toppling it over; he and Reyn then lopped off the machine's head, finishing the battle.

Otharon and Sharla approached the boys. "Are you okay?" Sharla exclaimed, fussing over Reyn. "That looked like it hurt!"

"Hey! I'm fine, Sharla."

"That was reckless! That Mechon was huge!"

"We fought one back at Colony 9," Reyn told her. "We beat it without the Monado. There was no way we were going to lose this time."

Even Otharon looked impressed. "Good work!" he exclaimed.

Reyn looked taken aback. "Um, thanks."

Otharon nodded. "Onwards, then. We're getting close."

Three small Mechon lay ahead; they were quickly taken out with no issue. The road ahead ended abruptly, with no branching paths. Reyn was about to ask where they were to go next when a platform appeared in front of them from above. The four of them boarded it and took it upwards. They then took another one, which led them down, deeper into the pit. To their left was a bridge leading away from the central corkscrew, which they followed. Two Mechon were at the end of it, which they defeated. There really are an awful lot of them, Shulk thought.

The party took down an M82 and then another two Mechon that blocked their path. heading ever downwards.

After destroying two groups of Mechon harvesting ether from two different crystal sources, Shulk felt disturbed. "They really are here for the ether…"

"These mines are a treasure trove," Sharla replied. "It's even more reason for us to kick them out of here."

Up ahead was another personnel lift. The party were once again faced with those long, sweeping arms they had seen when they first reached the Central Pit. The room they were in was circular, and there were wide gaps between the islands of land off to the left and to the right.

Otharon turned to the party. "We have to ride those things," he said, pointing at the arms. "On the other side of this room is a lift that will take us down to the base level of the Central Pit. That's where the faced Mechon who took Juju is."

Otharon led the party on to the first of the arms, which took them off to the right and on to the next platform. As they walked through to catch the next one, a giant mechanical hand dropped a Mechon in front of them. It looked like an M84, but it was red, much like the M67 was to the M63. On top of that, its right arm had been replaced by a wicked-looking lance filled with green fluid.

"What the hell!?" Reyn exclaimed.

"Fight it!" growled Otharon. "We're almost there! Come on!"

Reyn lowered his head, put up his shield and charged even as Shulk cast Monado Enchant on himself and the others. The M84 stabbed at Reyn and missed; Reyn rammed into the machine and staggered it. Sharla and Otharon opened fire, covering Shulk as he ran in to aid his friend. He cut the Mechon's leg as he had the M82 before and it toppled over, flailing its arms wildly so Shulk and Reyn couldn't get close.

The machine rolled on to its front and began dragging itself towards them; the boys tried to find an opening, but whenever one of them got close, it would stab at them with its lance.

"Damn it!" Reyn shouted, frustrated.

"Well, it can't move properly," Shulk pointed out. Even as he said so, an ether bullet penetrated its eyepiece, and it stopped moving completely.

"Nice work!" said Reyn happily.

Sharla nodded. "Thanks." She and the others boarded one of the sweeping arms again, getting off at the next island of rock. They could see the entrance to the pit ahead, but before they could reach it, a huge mechanical hand blocked their path and two M84 dropped from above.

"I think we have to defeat them to move forward," said Shulk grimly.

Otharon swore. We're so close!

They had no time to think, as the two Mechon spotted the party and quickly made their way towards them. Otharon and Sharla jumped back, firing at one of the machines. It made its way towards them; Shulk ran in and sliced off part of its leg, so it collapsed to the ground. This works almost too well.

Reyn, meanwhile, was grappling with the other Mechon. Sharla hit it with a powerful shot of ether from which it needed a moment to recover.

That was all Reyn needed. He jumped up and cut off his foe's lance. When he landed, he turned and jumped again, cutting through the metal connecting its head to the rest of its body, and the machine stopped moving.

Grinning, Reyn turned to help Shulk, but found that his friend had already destroyed his own foe.

"Right," said Otharon. "That should be the last of them. Now, let's head down to the base of the Central Pit, and bring back the residents of Colony 6."

The Mechon vanquished, the party trod onwards, heading down some stairs and into an elevator. They all entered it and began their final descent, ready to fight the faced Mechon and take back Juju and the residents of Colony 6.


	19. Xord

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

The elevator halted at the very base of the ether mine. The huge metallic pillar in the middle of the central pit was fixed to the ground before them. Gaps in the floor allowed Shulk, Reyn and Sharla to see the ether river that flowed through the bottom of the mine. It glowed an eerie green, lighting the room from below.

The first thing Sharla noticed was the distinct lack of residents from Colony 6. "No…" She felt dizzy as she looked around, spotting abandoned weapons and blood splatters all over the floor. "They're… gone…" She ran from the lift with Reyn and Shulk right behind her, and bent down to examine the stains on the floor. "So whose blood is…" Her head snapped up. "Oh no!"

A voice boomed out from above. "Ahh, here at last!" Laughing, Juju's faced captor flew down to meet them. "I've been getting hungry!" It sped forwards and then landed on the ground, turning to face them.

"Shulk," Reyn began, "isn't that…?"

"It's him all right," Shulk confirmed. "He's the one who took Juju!"

The faced Mechon took a couple of steps towards the party. Sharla would have none of it. She drew her rifle and pointed it at the Mechon. "Juju and the others! Tell me where they are!"

The Mechon merely continued to laugh. "You want the brat? Well, he's right here!" The Mechon gestured towards the central pillar, where Juju could be seen trapped within a transparent purple triangle, hovering far above the ground. He appeared unconscious.

"Juju!" Sharla cried. He didn't respond.

"He's still alive," said the faced Mechon. "But don't think he will be for long!" The trio readied their weapons, but the Mechon continued, failing to notice Otharon climbing down the wall behind it, towards one of the robots used for mining. "As for the others, well…" Otharon jumped off the wall, landing neatly on the machine. "I just couldn't help myself. I ate them all up!" Shulk, Reyn and Sharla were stunned. Otharon was consumed by a white-hot fury, his mind on all of his fellows who had gone missing.

The machine opened its arms wide, swinging its hammer before it. "Welcome to our banquet hall." It pointed its hammer at the party. "Tonight, the main course, will be... you!" It chuckled. "And if I've still got room, the brat will make a tasty dessert." It stomped its foot on the ground, laughing.

Shulk was furious. "Murderer!"

The Mechon ignored him. "I'm Xord, your host tonight."

"Xord?" Shulk echoed. "So you have a name?"

The Mechon's tone changed; suddenly he sounded confused. "That's what they all say. Can't say that I remember it myself!"

"What's he talking about?!" Shulk muttered. Sharla was resisting the urge to be ill.

Xord appeared to regain his senses. "Oh yes!" He slammed his hammer into his hand, excited by the battle he was about to fight. "It's good to see fresh meat on the table." He raised the hammer above his head. "These colony folks just don't fill me up!" He slammed his hammer into the ground before him, blinding the boys with its bright light.

But Sharla wasn't paying attention; she was still staring at the ground, at the blood that stained it. "Gadolt…" _Is this his? _"The others…" She shook her head; it was all too much.

Xord laughed gleefully. "Come on boys, dinner's ready!" The Mechon M55 surrounding him scuttled forwards eagerly. Shulk responded in kind by swinging the Monado to cast Enchant on himself, Reyn and Sharla, who was still kneeling on the floor.

Sharla took a deep breath. She raised her head up to look her enemy in the eye. "I swear I won't stop," she breathed, her quavering voice becoming louder and steadier with each syllable, "until I've scrapped each and every one of you!" She rose to her feet, shooting down an M55 as it lunged at her. She fired again, and again, advancing on the machine like she's gone mad. The Mechon collapsed, and Sharla put her foot on its head and fired once more, so it exploded in a spray of blue ether.

Sharla paused for breath, her blood pounding in her ears. Reyn dashed in to block an attack from an M67 as the smoke cleared. "Get behind me!" he barked at her, holding up his shield. Shulk dashed in front of Reyn and cleanly sliced three M55 in half.

"Reyn! Sharla!" Shulk wouldn't take his eyes off of Xord. "We are Homs. And we won't just stand here, waiting to be eaten!"

Otharon looked down at the rifle in his hand. He then jumped into the mining bot.

"The Monado?" Xord sounded amused. "Do you think that that thing can dent me?"

"How about this!?" Shulk ran towards the machine, slamming the sword on to its leg, which bounced straight off it. Shulk quickly regained his balance as Xord chuckled.

"I'm not Metal Face," he raised his hammer above his head. "You'll have to try haaaaaaarrrrrder!" He slammed his hammer down on to Shulk, who leapt backwards to avoid it.

"It's the same as before." exclaimed Shulk. He came to a standstill beside Sharla. "The Monado's useless against this guy."

"For now we can just take out the smaller Mechon," said Reyn. "Let's move!"

Shulk, Reyn and Sharla were quick to take out the handful of Mechon M55 and M67 units that Xord had summoned before. But, try as they might, they simply could not do any damage to the faced Mechon himself.

Xord swung his hammer at the party; Shulk ducked under it, but he, Reyn and Sharla were all blown backwards by the force of the blow.

"No!" Shulk shouted. Xord slowly walked towards them, his hammer trailing across the ground. "We'll never get to Juju at this rate." Xord slung his hammer over his shoulder. "I've got to think of something!" Hearing an odd noise, Shulk, Reyn and Sharla looked to their right and saw that one of the mining machines had gone rogue. They watched as it delivered a punch to Xord's face, much to the surprise of the Mechon himself.

"Where did you come from?!" Xord demanded.

"You feeling hungry, eh?" Otharon asked coldly from the cockpit.

Xord swiftly brought his hammer down on Otharon and his machine, but he caught it in his machine's claws and retaliated with another blow to Xord's face. Xord cried out. "Chew on this, scrap-for-brains!" Otharon kept his fist in Xord's face, forcing his foe backwards. Xord hit Otharon's arm over and over, desperately trying to prevent the old man from gaining ground. Otharon forced Xord to the ground and pinned him there.

"Boy." Otharon looked back at Shulk. "Now's your chance. Save Juju!"

Shulk's thoughts flicked back to his vision. "Otharon, don't do it!" Sharla fired a few shots at the prism trapping Juju, freeing him.

"Hurry up!" Otharon roared.

Sharla and Reyn were quick to comply, but Shulk lingered. "At this rate, even if we save Juju, Otharon's gonna be..."

Reyn's face appeared in Shulk's mind as he remembered. It spoke. "You see a vision you don't like, we'll change the future together. Got it?"

Shulk pulled himself back into reality. He watched Sharla and Reyn stop beside Juju, bending down to get a better look at him.

Shulk straightened up. "Change... the future." He looked around, spotting a machine with a long mechanical arm protruding from it, tipped with a large metal grabber. "Yes! That's it!" He looked back at his friends. "Reyn!" he called. "You grab Juju!" He started to run towards the machine.

"Shulk, what are you doing?" Reyn yelled, exasperated.

Meanwhile, Otharon had charged into Xord, sending the two of them sliding across the metal floor beneath them. Together, they slammed into the central pillar, the ground on either side of them open to the ether river. "Old man," growled Xord, "you think you can stop me?"

"No, I don't," said Otharon. "But I can do this!" He sent one of his claws flying into the pillar behind them, which exploded. Otharon backed away as the ground started to give way. Xord was struggling to rise, but by now it had tilted too much, and the Mechon started to slip. "Let's see if that Mechon body of yours can withstand an ether river."

Sharla was gently shaking her brother. "Juju! Wake up!"

"Sharla!" She looked up at Reyn. "Leave the rest to us." Reyn turned and began running towards Otharon and Xord. "Hang in there you old fool!" he yelled.

Xord was trying to climb back on to level ground, but Otharon had him by the shoulders and was shaking him back and forth. "Fall, you damn machine!" he cried.

And suddenly, he was. Xord lost his grip on the metal beneath him. "Damn you!" Otharon, put off-balance by the sudden movement, found himself teetering on the edge.

Having finally figured out how to drive his machine, Shulk steered it towards the ether river. "Otharon!" He flung the mechanical grabber back. "Hold on!" He propelled it towards Otharon, just managing it get a grip on the end of his machine. Shulk slammed on the breaks as he skidded across the floor towards Otharon, just as Reyn arrived.

"Shulk!" called Sharla.

"What a shot!" exclaimed Reyn.

Otharon looked up at Shulk from the cockpit of his machine, amazed. "Boy…"

Shulk set his vehicle into reverse. "We can change our destinies. Otharon… You won't die here." Otharon could only stare. "Not today." Shulk gave a shout of alarm as the arm that sat atop his vehicle began to break. _Surely it should be able to take the weight!?_

Xord had gotten a hold of Otharon's machine, desperate. "You cannot defeat me," he cried.

Otharon began to climb out of his cockpit. "Get out of there, quick!" Shulk shouted. Otharon pulled out his rifle, staring down at Xord. "It's giving way!" Otharon trained his rifle on the Mechon trying desperately to bring him down.

Reyn gasped. "He's gonna…" He ran back towards the fray.

"It won't be long now, my friends," Otharon began. "But not before…" he paused, and took a deep breath. "Gadolt! This, is for you. This... is for the people of Colony 6." He shot Xord's hand, and the Mechon lost his grip. He cried out as he fell, sinking into the ether river below.

Then the machine Otharon was standing on jolted, and he was flung off it, up into the air.

Shulk watched in horror as Otharon and his machine started to fall into the ether river. "But I... This isn't supposed to happen." Shulk stood up in his seat. "Otharon!"

Otharon watched as Shulk's machine began to shrink away from him. "Gadolt," he sighed, "I'll see you before long." Shulk looked away, overcome with grief.

With a yell, Reyn leapt over the edge of the floor. He grasped the grabber on Shulk's vehicle, his other hand wrapping around Otharon's rifle. He grinned down at the old man. "That was close!" Otharon stared up at him. Reyn gritted his teeth. "You wanna hurry up?" asked Reyn. "My arm's about ready to drop off."

_What do I say? _"Thank you." Otharon began to climb up his rifle.

"Save the thanks for Shulk and his visions." Reyn helped Otharon up into the metal grabber. "As soon as I saw an ether river, I knew this had to be the place."

Shulk slowly brought the boys back up on to level ground and hopped out of the machine. The three of them walked together back to Sharla and Juju, who was still out cold.

"Juju… You're safe now," Sharla murmured.

Pleased with the way things had turned out, Reyn faced Shulk. "What did I tell you? You and me can make anything happen."

"Yeah, you were right," Shulk agreed.

Otharon was looking down at Juju. "A boy who can change the future." Otharon turned to Shulk. "I stand corrected, young man. You've done a great deed here today."

"I didn't really do anything." Shulk scratched his head, embarrassed. "I couldn't have done it without you guys."

"Tell me." Otharon's tone grew serious. "Your vision saved me. But what of the others? What happened to Gadolt?"

Sharla lifted her head, ever so slightly, to catch Shulk's reaction. Shulk glanced at her, and then shook his head.

Sharla silently rose and left. Otharon fixed his eyes to the ground. "I see…" He followed Sharla, holding out the rifle in his hand. "Sharla, take this. Gadolt would have wanted you to have it." Sharla took the weapon and held it close, her eyes closed in memory.

Reyn broke the silence. "Time to head back to the camp."

"We'll need to get Juju some medical attention," said Shulk.

"There's a freight elevator on the next level," said Sharla. "From there, it's an easy route out of the mine. As long as it's working…"

"We'll know that when we get on it," Reyn replied.

"You make me laugh," Sharla chuckled.

"Well, I'm right, ain't I?" Reyn demanded.

"You're absolutely right," Sharla agreed. "We need to move on and stop worrying about every little thing. Come on, guys." Reyn picked up Juju and followed Sharla with Shulk and Otharon, back up to the next level so they could exit the mines and return to camp.


	20. Let 'em Have it, Beast!

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

_**This chapter is late because of exams and because I quit the game news/editorial website I was working for (and also hosting this novelisation on) and had to deal with everything associated with that (this also happened during exam period). I was also sick for a month and blehhh.**_

_**I now have my own blog; run a search for "zarnaguamore" if you're interested. I'll be putting up this, as well as other written pieces (short stories, opinion pieces, game reviews) up there. I also have more stuff going on for the next week and in reality probably should have waited before I did another chapter, but I didn't want anyone thinking I'd abandoned the fic. :)**_

_**Just figured I'd let you all know what's going on. As always, have fun reading, and do let me know what you think!**_

The party headed back up the elevator and into the room with the rotating arms. They hopped on to one of the arms and rode it across to the southern section of the room, where there was a freight elevator leading outside of the mine.

Shulk wandered over to the controls and checked them over while Reyn and Otharon lay Juju down on the floor. Shulk turned to his friends. "Good. Works perfectly."

"You see! What did I say?" grinned Reyn.

"We're all impressed." Sharla fought to keep her amusement out of her tone, while Shulk laughed. He pulled a lever and the elevator started to ascend. They were about halfway up when the whole structure shook, and then stopped moving.

"Hey, why've we stopped?" Reyn asked.

"I don't know," Shulk said slowly. "But I think we're about to find out..."

As soon as he finished the sentence, a giant Mechon leapt on to the platform with them. The party were shocked to see it was Xord, but he was different. Green smoke wafted up from his body, and the metallic sheen on it was gone; it appeared to have rusted and peeled away. What was perhaps the strangest thing of all was his newfound muteness. The Mechon, who before would not stop talking, did not utter a word as he stared down at the party.

"Not him again!" exclaimed Reyn.

"This one doesn't give up!" said Sharla.

"This is our chance, guys," said Shulk. Xord, still silent, drew his hammer as he stared the party down. Otharon had Juju in the corner, watching the battle unfold.

Shulk recalled that day back in Colony 9. When she, in the mobile artillery, had blasted a weakness in the side of Metal Face's head. _I bet the ether river did the same thing, but to his entire body_.

Shulk cast Monado Enchant. "I think the ether river weakened it!" Shulk called to Reyn and Sharla. "We might be able to damage it!"

"On it!" Reyn ran towards the machine, dodging a blow from his hammer and sinking his gunlance deep into its leg. He then slashed outwards, taking a chunk of metal with it.

Shulk, Sharla and Otharon cheered as Reyn sliced off another chunk of metal, widening the hole in Xord's leg and weakening the limb. Sharla fired at the other leg as Shulk ran towards it. Xord swung at Shulk, but he ducked to avoid the blow. The attack placed the machine off-balance as Reyn chipped away at its leg, until finally he fell to the ground. Xord tried and failed to rise; the amount of metal missing from his leg was too much, and what was left would not support his weight. Reyn dashed back over to Shulk and Sharla, watching Xord.

Finally, the machine started to make some noise. He grunted as he struggled to approach the party, crawling across the ground. He rose his hammer. "Still hungry!" He started to bring it down on Shulk, but Sharla ran in front of him and shot an explosive round at Xord's shoulder. The force of the shot blew off not only that arm, but his other one and his legs as well.

With no way to move, Xord slowly rolled backwards to the edge of the elevator, groaning. Blue-green coloured ether was splattered across the floor, reminding Sharla of the red stuff at the base of the Central Pit. She lowered her weapon. "Did we get him?" Reyn asked sharply.

The party slowly approached Xord as the Mechon gasped for breath. "Got to hand it to you," he rasped. "You beat me without even releasing the true power of the Monado."

"True power?" Shulk repeated, looking down at his sword. He pointed the weapon at Xord. "What do you know about the Monado?"

The machine twitched. "Sorry, boy. I can't tell you that. You'll have to find out the truth on your own."

"The truth?" Shulk echoed.

"When I became what you see now, that's when my eyes were opened." Xord looked down the path to the bottom of the pit. "Was a good ride while it lasted."

"When you became like this?" Shulk's mind was swimming. "What do you mean?!"

The jets on Xord's back started to activate. "Time's up, pipsqueak." He rolled off the edge of the elevator. "I'm gone!"

"Xord!" Shulk, Reyn and Sharla watched as he bounced off the ground and out of sight.

A large explosion from below blinded the party as the elevator started moving again. "Get back!" shouted Reyn, picking up Juju once more. The elevator took them back up to the surface, around the corner from Colony 6. As soon as it stopped, the party ran from the elevator as fast as they could; they were running for less than a minute when the elevator they had just left exploded into blue flames. They all cried out and covered their ears.

"We smashed that bronze idiot." Reyn lay Juju on the ground, Sharla dashing over to cradle his head. Reyn looked up at her. "Now the people of Colony 6 can rest in peace."

"Yeah." Sharla met Reyn's gaze and was about to reply when Juju started coming to in her arms. She quickly looked down at him. "Are you OK?"

"Sharla?" Juju muttered.

Relief washed over Sharla. "Thank the stars you're all right."

"Where are we?" Juju asked, looking around.

"Just outside Colony 6," Sharla informed him. She held Juju close. "Thanks to Shulk and Reyn we destroyed that... thing." She paused. "But not everyone made it."

"Oh…" Juju started to rise. "I'm so sorry." He pulled away from Sharla. "Shulk, Reyn… I didn't mean to cause any more trouble, running off like that."

"Forget about it kid," Reyn grinned, looking sideways at Shulk. "We settled the score."

Juju's face brightened. "Thanks!"

"Yes," said Shulk, "but there's still no sign of that Mechon with the metal face. He's the one we're really after."

"Yeah," Reyn muttered.

"Hope I'm not interrupting!" Shulk and Reyn spun around and were shocked to see Metal Face rising up from the cliff face behind them.

"It's him!" Shulk shouted. "Metal Face!" He and Reyn cried out as more Mechon dropped from the sky; M72 units with their propellor-like appendages, the small M69s, and many, many more Mechon that looked just like Xord. Same face, same shape, same hammer.

"Not just him!" yelled Reyn. "A whole bunch!" He and the others quickly drew their weapons. "And tons of 'em look like Xord!"

Metal Face hovered into the middle of his army and landed heavily on the grass. "Pathetic! After all that talk, Xord was crushed by worthless maggots, like you."

Reyn was angry. "Oh, this one can talk 'n' all!" he growled.

"I can talk all right," Metal Face confirmed. "And I got a good memory." He bent forwards and glared down at Shulk. He swung his head violently from side to side, his tone changing to one of mocking. "'Fiora! Get outta there! Get out!'" He stamped his feet on the ground, threw back his head and laughed. He slowly regained his composure, before spreading his arms wide and slamming his claws into the dirt before him, looking down at the party. "Her screams we music to my ears," he taunted, rising his arm high above his head "as my claws slid right through -" he brought his arm down in a violent slashing motion "- her soft flesh." Shulk was on the brink of losing his temper. "Like a hot knife through butter."

His whole body shaking with rage, the Monado activated in Shulk's hands. "Talk all you want." He could feel the Monado pulling on his mind, and fought to keep control of the sword. He flicked it behind him. "Because those words will be your last!" Hr ran in to attack Metal Face, who met Shulk's attack with one of his claws. Shulk cried out as he was knocked back.

"The Monado?" The Mechon sounded amused. "Heh, it's been a while." He drew his claws together. "But you should know by now. The Monado can't stop me!" He slammed his claws into Shulk, taking him unawares and sending him flying back towards the party.

[Monado can't stop]

"Shulk!" Reyn stopped his friend as he slid towards him across the ground.

"Shulk!" Sharla was quick to join Reyn at Shulk's side.

"I'm gonna…" Reyn looked up at Metal Face, furious.

"Any way you slice it, the Monado ain't gonna work, boy," said Metal Face. "Didn't work then, won't work now." Shulk, supported by Reyn and Sharla, raised his head to glare at his foe. "Now, time to cut you down to size!" He drew his arm behind him, and the party prepared to jump.

They had to cover their eyes as Metal Face cried out and the ground before them exploded. "What?!" Metal Face looked up the cliff face to his right, where a blonde-haired man sporting a red bandana was pointing his gun at the faced Mechon.

Otharon gasped. "That's…"

Dickson glanced behind him. "Now! Let 'em have it, Beast!"

A dark cape flicked past Dickson as its owner charged down the cliff face, sword in left hand, to confront the Mechon. Dunban sidestepped an attack from an M72 and immediately sliced off its arm before hacking into an M69, causing it to collapse.

Shulk rose as his friend approached him. "Dunban!"

"How did you…?!" Reyn was astounded.

"Sorry to have kept you," Dunban grinned as Dickson slid down the cliff behind him. "Looks like we were just in time." He looked over at the horde of Mechon. "We can talk later." He readied his katana for battle. "Let's get this over with, shall we? Shulk, Reyn, Dickson! Let's go!" Dunban charged into battle with his comrades in tow, Otharon and Sharla hanging back to fire into the machines.

The Xord-like Mechon were lined up in two rows ahead, unmoving. _If they join the fight,_ thought Shulk, _there's no way we can win_. But why weren't they? _They must be playing with us_. The thought compounded Shulk's fury.

The party shot down and cut through the Mechon before them, but no matter how many they destroyed, more would scuttle forward to take their place. "There's no end to them," Reyn commented. "Where are they coming from?" An M72 in front of him spun its claws in challenge, flanked by a couple of M69 units.

"I can take the smaller ones," called Sharla. "But the rest'll be like fighting Xord over and over!"

"If only the Monado would work on these things!" Shulk yelled, frustrated.

Dunban's head whipped around at his words. "Focus, Shulk!" He turned his attention back to the M69 pressing into him.

Another M69 had snuck up on Shulk while he was distracted. "Look out!" Reyn tackled his friend to the ground as its sickle sliced through the space that had been occupied by his body only moments before.

"Reyn!" Sharla shot at the Mechon before it could attack the boys again.

Metal Face laughed, watching the battle from behind the Mechon horde. "Look at you all."

"Look at this, metal brain!" Dickson loosed a shot at the faced Mechon, who blocked it effortlessly with his hand.

"That it, grandpa?!" he roared.

Dickson sighed. "Running out of ideas here."

"You may be able to block a projectile," Dunban dashed past Dickson and towards Metal Face, "but let's see if you can block this!" He leapt into the air and brought his sword down on the faced Mechon, who brought its claws up to meet Dunban's blade.

The Mechon laughed. "Tell me. How does it feel to be such a pathetic hero?" He flung Dunban away from him, who skidded across the ground. Dunban gritted his teeth, clutching his crippled right arm.

"You OK, Dunban?" Shulk called.

"Does it hurt?" mocked the machine. "I bet it does. It hurts because the Monado won't work for a bunch of losers," he drew back his arm, "like you!" He brought his claws down on Dunban, who only just managed to roll out of harm's way.

"What are you?" Dunban demanded.

"Save it, I ain't interested," replied Metal Face. "You little maggots need to learn when you've been stepped on!" A small ball of blue light appeared at the tip of the pillar protruding from his head; the ball began to grow bigger.

"That light...' murmured Dunban. He turned to his comrades. "Everyone! Fall back, now!"

"Won't change a thing," Metal Face growled. He leaned forward so the ball was closer to the ground, the pillar pointing towards them like a cannon.

Suddenly the ball disappeared, and Metal Face leapt backwards as a green lightning bolt dropped towards him from the sky. "What the?!" He looked up and spotted a bird-like creature; it was metallic blue in colour, with a glowing yellow substance comprising the ends of its wings. "A Telethia?!"

The beast wheeled around in the sky to drop more green lightning on the Mechon, who leapt from side to side to dodge them.

"Now's our chance!" shouted Shulk. He dashed up Metal Face's leg and rammed the Monado into his arm, leaving a deep cut in the Mechon's armour.

Metal Face cried out. "You'll pay for that!" He looked down at the boy pushing the blade into his arm, through sheer force of will. "How are you-"

But Shulk's eyes glowed blue, and he found himself pulled away from the present.

Shulk saw a giant green pillar before him. A woman spoke. "We must be outside the tower." The vision changed, and he found himself and his friends standing in front of a giant purple man with floor-length hair and beard. He was with a woman he did not recognise. The man spoke. "Welcome, True Heir to the Monado."

The vision changed, and an old man with a white beard stood holding a staff; Shulk could see the giant purple man behind him. "Father!" The old man turned to hug a young woman as she ran to him.

Shulk felt another pull, and suddenly he found Metal Face towering over him. "Weak!" spat the Mechon. "Weak and pathetic!" His sight shifted to Dunban, who was hunched over the young woman he had seen before, glaring upwards. "What or who are you?!"

Shulk saw himself, as furious as he was now, the Monado drawn behind him, yelling up at the sky. "You will pay for what you have done!" An unfamiliar Mechon flipped in the air, away from him. He saw himself bring the Monado, glowing brighter than he had ever seen it, down on Metal Face's arm - and cutting through it.

Now Shulk saw himself walking towards Metal Face as the Mechon flailed on the ground. He spoke to his foe. "You will know the pain and suffering you caused the Emperor and Fiora!" Suddenly the unfamiliar Mechon from before was in front of him, and he sliced off its front; it started to open up…

Shulk gasped for breath as he was pulled back to the present; he was still standing on Metal Face, the Monado cutting into the Mechon's arm. "Another one."

Metal Face, thoroughly irritated, turned to look at Shulk. "Enough of this!" He slapped Shulk away from him. "You got lucky, brat! Next time, your head is mine!" He changed form and took to the air, leaving the battleground behind.

"You're not getting away!" Shulk yelled, giving chase..

"Get back here!" roared Reyn, following Shulk.

"Shulk, Reyn!" Dunban called. "Let it go."

The boys stopped in their tracks, fuming. Reyn rounded on Dunban. "You've got to be kidding!" he yelled. "He's the one who killed Fiora!"

Dunban stared at the ground a moment before meeting Reyn's angry gaze. "Know your limits. We'll get another chance."

Shulk watched the black dot get smaller and smaller as it fled the scene. "Fine." The Monado deactivated in his hands.

Dunban turned his attention to the bird-like creature now patrolling the sky. "That thing saved us. Whatever it was."

The creature flew to the top of the cliff face, out of site of the party. It hovered over a man with silver hair.

The man spoke to the creature. "You did well." The creature lowered its head to meet his. "But what of the boy." He listened as the bird made a low, guttural sound. "Well then, there is much to be done," replied the man.


	21. Reminiscence

****_As of next chapter, I'll be putting it on my blog a week earlier than I will on here. It will still be here though. If you want to find my blog, run a search for "zarnaguamore" or check my profile for a link._****

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

With the Mechon now gone, Dunban and Dickson strolled over to the rest of the party. A smile crept up Otharon's face as they approached. "I thought it was you," he said fondly. "Nice to see you, Dickson.

"It's been a while, grandpa," Dickson drawled. "One year if my memory hasn't left me." A smirk curled his lips. "Good to see you haven't kicked the bucket."

Otharon laughed. "Put a sock in it."

"Wait…" said Sharla slowly. "Dickson? Dunban?" She looked between the two. "You're the heroes who risked your lives a year ago, in the battle to defend the colonies."

Dickson looked Sharla up and down. "What's a pretty young lady like you doing hanging around with this bunch of slackers?" Sharla's eyes narrowed, but she made no reply.

Shulk spoke. "Dunban, Dickson, thanks for helping us out back there."

"I don't believe we did anything," said Dunban easily.

"He's right," Dickson agreed. "Save your thanks for that giant bird."

"What _was_ that thing?" Shulk queried.

"A Telethia," Dickson answered. "A mystical beast that protects the sleeping Bionis. Though," Dickson's tone grew thoughtful, "I've never heard of one venturing down to where us Homs live. Strange."

"A telethia," Dunban repeated. "So that's what it's called."

"A mystic beast that protects the Bionis," Shulk echoed.

Dunban turned to Shulk. "So, what's your plan from here? Follow that metal-faced machine, I presume?"

"What else?" challenged Reyn. "He's gonna pay for what he did to Fiora."

"Well then," said Dunban. "There's only one place he'd go. Galahad Fortress in Sword Valley," he told them. "A year ago, those things were building a huge fortress, right in the valley. Tactically, it's an excellent location to launch attacks from. I feel there's a strong chance they've now finished building it. That would explain why both colonies were attacked recently."

"Sword Valley…" Otharon's thoughts were cast back to the war. "The very place where we made our last stand one year ago."

"So it's settled," said Reyn. "Bash down a fortress and smash some metal brains!"

"Easy, Reyn," said Shulk quickly.

"Shulk?" Reyn looked to his friend, confused.

"There's somewhere else I need to go first," said Shulk.

Reyn was startled. "But what could be more important than…" he paused as he realised what must have happened. "Wait… You saw another one."

When Shulk nodded, Dickson frowned. "Saw what?" he asked. "What're you on about?" Shulk and Reyn looked at each other before telling Dickson and Dunban of the visions he had been seeing with the Monado. Otharon listened as well, intrigued.

Dickson considered what he had just been told. "These visions sound pretty handy," he decided. "Well, out with it. What d'ya see?"

"I was somewhere very high up," Shulk began. "I was fighting at the peak of a huge tower. Fighting Metal Face. I heard a voice, and then the Monado's power was unleashed. His armour instantly gave way. The Monado doesn't work on Metal Face at the moment, but if that vision comes true..."

"A tower, huh?" muttered Dickson. "Doesn't give us much to go on."

"Can you remember anything else from your vision?" Sharla asked.

Shulk thought for a moment before replying. "I remember a huge horn. That's it!" he exclaimed. "As I fought Metal Face, I could see the Bionis' head."

Dickson closed his eyes. _I knew it._ "Prison Island."

Everyone faced Dickson. "Prison Island?" queried Sharla.

"I've never been," Dickson began. "But I've heard of a black tower at the head of the Bionis. They say it was built by the ancient High Entia race."

"The High Entia are real?!" Shulk started to get excited. "I thought they were a myth!"

"I wouldn't blame you, son," said Dickson. "An ancient race living at the top of the Bionis? It does sound crazy. But Bionis is home to all kinds of different people, not just us. That includes the High Entia."

"The High Entia, huh?" said Dunban. "I'd dismissed them as folklore as well."

"Never assume anything," said Dickson fiercely. "Seeing is believing, right?"

"Have you ever met one?" Shulk asked breathlessly.

"Well, yeah," replied Dickson.

"Wow!" exclaimed Reyn. "Dickson, man, you're just full of surprises!"

"What can I say? I'm well travelled." Dickson looked out over Splintered Path. "And it's all for your future. Day and night I've searched for new lands, met new cultures and gained knowledge for our people. The life of a wandering old fool. A lonely one at that."

Dunban chuckled. "Stop your whining. You do it 'cos you enjoy it. And you make a tidy profit."

Dickson rounded on his friend. "Who asked you, Dunban?"

Dunban smiled and turned to Shulk. "Well then, Shulk, what's it to be?"

"We'll head there," said Shulk firmly.

_But will you waver? _"There are alternatives," Dunban pointed out. "We could abandon the colonies, find a place the Mechon will not discover and live in secret."

"I realised something while we were fighting Xord," Shulk told him. "Wherever we go, they'll follow. We can't run from these things. We must fight on."

Dunban felt proud. _Good lad._ "I see. Then I am obliged to join you."

"You want to come with us?" Shulk was shocked.

"Scared I'll get hurt?" Dunban grinned.

"No way!" exclaimed Shulk. "We know you're stronger than anything! Right, Reyn?"

"You bet!" said Reyn excitedly.

"I've recovered a great deal since we last met," Dunban informed the boys. "And that miserly old coot over there made me this." He gestured at the katana resting on his hip. "Sharp, light. Perfect for cutting through steel. Show me a Mechon and I'll slice it in two. I might not be in peak condition, but I'm useful."

"I can't thank you enough," said Shulk.

Dunban nodded. "We're in it together now."

"You can count on us, Dunban."

Dickson scowled. "Miserly old coot? That sword is forged from Mechon armour. It's worth every penny."

"So you keep saying…" Dunban muttered.

"If you wanna go to the Bionis' head, you'll need a guide to get to the upper regions," Dickson told the group.

"We're at the bottom," Dunban observed, "so I guess the only way to go is up."

"Right," Dickson agreed. "But we'll need to go up the lower back first."

"The lower back…" Shulk muttered.

"Colony 6 is right at the top of the Bionis' Leg," said Dickson. "So we'll have to head around the waist." He turned towards the south. "Through a place called Satorl Marsh. Follow me." He started to lead the way.

"Hold on," said Sharla quickly.

Dickson glanced back, irritated. "What?"

"You may have just got here, but we've been down in the mines for the entire day. And Otharon's been stuck inside the Ether Mines for a month," Sharla pointed out. "We all need some rest." She turned to the boys. "Right guys?"

"Ah… sure," said Reyn.

"I guess so," Shulk shrugged.

Otharon nodded. "I would like to see all my friends again."

Dunban turned to his friend. "We've travelled pretty far as well. Some rest could do us some good. A few days won't hurt us."

Dickson scratched his chin. "All right then. Been a while since I've seen the folk at Colony 6." He turned to Otharon. "Where are you all hiding now?"

"You'll have to ask Medic," Otharon replied, indicating Sharla. "She was the one who evacuated the civilians when the Mechon came."

Dickson turned to Sharla. "So, where are all of the residents of Colony 6?"

Sharla tensed. _Dunban seems all right, but this one makes my skin crawl._ "We've been hiding out on the Bionis' Leg, south of Kamos Guidepost," she said stiffly. "I can take everyone there now, and we can have a hot meal."

"Sounds good," said Dunban. "I'd love a bite to eat. Lead the way."

Sharla nodded and turned to the north, leading everyone back towards the refugee camp.


	22. Daksha Shrine

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

Reyn, asleep within the rocky cave that was home for Colony 6's refugees, awoke with a yelp as he felt a great weight drop on to his gut. He saw a flash of dark brown hair, and then heard the voice of a young boy speaking.

"Hurry up, Reyn!" the voice squeaked angrily. "They're going to leave without you!"

"But it's so early," Reyn groaned. He yelped again when the youth catapulted into his stomach. "Hey, stop that Nik!" he spluttered.

"Well, get a move on!" whined the boy.

"All right, all right! Jeez..." Reyn slowly got to his feet, clutching his sore stomach. He picked up his gunlance and bag, slinging them over his shoulder as he headed outside, Nikita hot on his heels.

Reyn sighed as the boy, who came up to his elbow, chattered on about the amazing place they were going to see this morning. Reyn sighed even louder when the boy asked him why he was holding on to his abdomen, theorising that it could be a stomach ache.

"You know, Reyn," squeaked Nik, "if you're not feeling well, you ought to stay behind and play with me and Anna!"

The thought of sleep was tempting, but… "I've gotta see this place now that you've prattled all about it, kid," Reyn teased. "We'll be back later tonight. You behave while we're gone, yeah? Don't give Matryona any trouble."

Nikita's face brightened. "Sure thing! She won't have to worry about me all day. I think I'll go tell her not to worry right now!" And the boy was gone before Reyn could protest.

Reyn scratched his chin. _What's the bet she'll still be asleep…? _He sighed again as he exited the cave. Shulk, Sharla, Dunban and Dickson were waiting for him outside in the dark, armed and carrying their own bags.

"The sleeping prince awakes!" Sharla laughed. "That boy is so full of energy, isn't he?"

"My stomach hurts," Reyn admitted. "What's he even _doing_ awake at this hour, anyway?"

"He's been having trouble sleeping since the Mechon attacked," Sharla informed him. "A lot of us have been."

"Oh." Reyn wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I'm… sorry."

"Don't be," said Sharla. "You and the others helped us reclaim the colony by defeating Xord three days ago. It's thanks to you we can start heading home." She smiled.

Dunban turned to Sharla. "So, where are we heading this morning?"

"To the Observation Platform," Sharla replied. "After we head outside the camp, we'll head north-east through Viliera Hill. Just beyond there is a narrow path leading to the Daksha Shrine, said to have been a place of worship for the giants. Just past the shrine is a cave, and the platform is at the end of the cave."

"Sounds like a bit of a hike," Dunban commented.

"Too much for you, Dunban?" Dickson queried.

"I was more concerned for you, old man." Dunban quipped. "Think you can take it?"

Dickson grunted. "I've been travelling my whole life, boy. A little morning stroll like this is no trouble for me."

Sharla rolled her eyes. "Shall we get going, gentlemen?"

"Yes, let's," Dunban agreed.

Sharla led the way out of the camp. Dawn was still a little while off; the plan was to have breakfast at one of Sharla's favourite spots as the sun rose. They headed north-east, admiring the glow of the wisps as they flitted across the Gaur Plain in the darkness.

They approached a large rocky ramp which led to a platform that continued into the north-west. "We can head up there on the way back," Sharla told her friends. She led them around the ramp and underneath the platform, continuing north-east.

The guys from Colony 6 warily eyed a creature they had never seen before; it looked to be reptilian with pale, flaky skin, flippers for legs, and a moss-covered shell protecting its body. When Sharla realised what was happening, she laughed. "It won't hurt you unless you hurt it," she teased. To prove her point, Sharla neared the beast.

"Sharla!" shouted Reyn. "Be careful!"

Sharla laughed again as she raised a hand to the creature's head and gently began to stroke it. The beast closed its eyes, seeming to enjoy it.

The boys relaxed when it became clear that Sharla was going to come to no harm. They approached it, and its eyes snapped open, watching the large group carefully. Shulk reached out and patted the side of the beast's head, at which point it seemed to calm again. It lowered its head to the ground to nip at the grass.

Sharla faced the boys. "Let's get going again. We need to get there before sunrise."

"Then lead the way," said Dunban.

Sharla continued to lead the party north-east, telling them that this area around the rocky platform was known as Viliera Hill. Once they were clear of the platforms, they stepped into a narrow path surrounded on both sides by a sheer cliff. A few antols stood in their way, but they were quickly squished.

"I believe you said a sacred place for the giants lay ahead, Sharla?" Dunban queried.

Sharla nodded. "That's what we're told, anyway. Now, it's overrun by arachno." Shulk and Reyn exchanged a glance, both their minds on Tephra Cave. "The structures there are huge, though," she continued. "I'm not sure Homs could have built it, and arachno don't have the intelligence."

"Those arachno are more intelligent than they seem, missy," growled Dickson.

Shulk remembered the group of small arachno he and Reyn had fought in Tephra Cave, where one had appeared to be giving commands to the others.

Apparently Reyn had been thinking the same thing. "When we were on our way here from Tephra Cave, we were attacked by a bunch of arachno that were taking orders from another arachno," he informed the group.

"Are you sure you weren't just imagining it?" asked Sharla.

"I saw it too," Shulk piped up. "After we defeated the leader, all of the others ran away."

Dunban was intrigued. "Fascinating." He looked at Shulk. "You're sure of what you saw?"

Shulk nodded. "Yeah. I remember being struck by how odd it was."

"Ha!" exclaimed Reyn. "I told you so, Sharla!"

Sharla frowned. "It seems strange, though. I've never seen them behave like that."

"You ever fought 'em in a group?" challenged Dickson.

Sharla considered the question. "I don't think so, actually."

Dickson nodded. "That'll be why, then. Wily little critters, they are."

"You've fought them, Dickson?" Shulk asked.

Dickson glanced at Shulk. "It was a long time ago. I lost a lot of me mates to those damned arachnos. But that's a story for another day." Their path curved, and up ahead they could see broken columns and a floor made of polished stone. "That the shrine?"

"It is." Sharla glanced around. There were a few antol on the other side of the shrine, as well as some scattered arachno eggs. She stopped and turned to the party. "We'll creep along the cliff to our right, and do it _quietly_. If you're too loud around the arachno eggs, they'll hatch. There's also a giant arachno lurking around here."

"A giant arachno?" Reyn repeated. "You didn't tell us that!"

"I've been through here plenty of times without being attacked by it," Sharla assured him.

"Oh yeah?" asked Reyn. "Well how do you know it exists, then?"

"I've seen it," she replied. "One time as we were leaving. Someone got too close to the end of the platform, and it came crawling over the side."

"Then let's make sure to stay away from it, eh?" said Dunban.

Sharla nodded. "Right. Follow me." She led the party along the south end of the shrine, hugging the cliff face. They hit upon a vine-covered wall leading downwards, which they descended. A little further forward, they found a narrow cave set into a cliff face which Sharla stated led to their final destination.

The cave opened up on to a rocky platform. Shulk, Reyn and Dunban caught their breath.

Raguel Lake lay below them. The bridge and the road to Colony 6 was off to their left, the path leading to Tephra Cave to their right. Dawn was just beginning to break. They watched the light fill the valley as they unpacked their bags and began to get their food ready. The shadows falling from the bridge grew shorter as the animals of the Bionis awoke and began flying and running through the sky and through the grass. The five of them tucked into breakfast, admiring the sight.

Sharla took a deep breath. "I haven't been up here for a long time. Usually, we'd go up to a place called Believer's Paradise, on the other side of the leg. It's closer to Colony 6."

"It sure is beautiful," said Shulk, in wonder.

"You said it," agreed Reyn. Dunban was quietly watching the Bionis' Leg get brighter, enjoying the view.

Dickson chuckled. "This is one of the prettier sights on the Bionis, I'll admit."

Reyn flopped on to the ground behind him and let out a large burp. "Man, I'm stuffed. Good cooking, guys."

"You have a surprisingly good sense of taste," Sharla told Dunban.

"When you have to cook for yourself, you adapt."

Sharla was curious, but guessed from his tone that he didn't want to talk more about it. "Fair enough then." She and the others packed what was left into their bags and began the trek back to Viliera Hill. They went back through the cave, slower this time as it was now filled with sleeping vangs.

As they were passing the Daksha Shrine, Shulk spotted something on the ground to his right that was reflecting light back at him. _What is that…?_ Shulk wandered towards it and picked it up.

"Shulk!"

His head snapped up at the sound of Reyn's voice. Terror crept into his body as two black, spindly legs crept over the side of the shrine, followed by two more, and then a head -

An ether bullet whizzed over Shulk's shoulder, exploding in the creature's face and snapping him out of his reverie. "Hurry up, Shulk!" Reyn bellowed.

Shulk turned heel and ran; he could hear the arachno scuttling behind him as he ran towards the party at the edge of the clearing. Sharla fired another round, and the creature pursuing Shulk hissed. The scuttling sound began to fade; Shulk glanced behind him and saw it heading back to the shrine. Shulk slowed as he reached his friends, trying to catch his breath.

"What were you thinking!?" Reyn demanded. He spotted something in Shulk's hand. "Oi, what's that you're holding?"

Shulk wordlessly held out the object he had found; it looked like a small mirror. Dunban plucked it out of his hand and held it up to get a better look at it.

"Give us a look, Dunban." Dickson examined the object closely, turning it over in his hands and muttering to himself. Finally, he handed it back to Shulk. "It looks like some kind of giant's artifact. Made of clay." He waved it around in the air. "Is this the reason you nearly got yourself killed?"

"Well…" Shulk was embarrassed, "I… I don't know…"

Reyn looked at Sharla. "And you call _me_ reckless!"

"It's not like that!" said Shulk heatedly.

"Regardless, we're all still here," Dunban interrupted. "We're here to relax, and see the sights of the Bionis' Leg. So let's keep going, shall we?" He turned to Dickson. "Shall you return the mirror, and we can continue?" Dickson hesitated for a moment, and Dunban laughed. "Is it worth a bit more than you're letting on, old man?"

"Bah!" Dickson did as Dunban suggested. "Finder's keepers and all."

Shulk placed the mirror into his bag and followed Sharla as she led the way back towards Viliera Hill. After they emerged from the path between the cliff faces, they climbed a shallow ramp leading upwards. They then turned right, heading west and then north, before stopping in the middle of a grassy plain on top of the hill overlooking the Gaur Plain.

Dunban took a seat on the grass. "I say tomorrow we start helping out the Colony 6 refugees. In that way, we see more of the Bionis' Leg, while also making the lives of its citizens a little easier." Dunban looked to Shulk and Reyn. "What do you two think?"

"Sounds good to me!" said Reyn happily.

Shulk nodded. "Yeah, good idea Dunban."

Sharla was surprised. "But you've already done so much. You brought back Juju, and drove away the Mechon."

"We need to keep ourselves sharp," Dunban replied. "I haven't seen any real battle for a while, so it'll make sense for me to practice. Why not do so why helping out the people of Colony 6?"

Sharla was overwhelmed. "Thank you so much! I'll talk to everyone this afternoon and see what they need help with."

"That would be appreciated. For now though…" Dunban leaned back on to the grass, placing his head on his hands and staring up at the sky, "...let's just enjoy the sunshine."

* * *

><p><strong><em>I'm not sure how many of you noticed, but there were zero cutscene transcriptions this chapter! So it was entirely off my own head. I hope I did the characters justice.<em>**

**_ The party's going to be chilling out with the refugees for a few more days, so I'm going to be working in quests. You can see I'm going to include long-term ones, such as _The Giants' Treasure_; I've done all the sidequests in Xenoblade and want to share the knowdledge gained from them as much as possible._**

**_Later, I'm also going to include the Bionis' Left Shoulder, which is an unused map file a hacker stumbled on. I have a few theories concerning this area and what its purpose would have been in-game. I'm going to use these as the basis for adding a whole new area to the game in this novelisation, containing canon information given to us about the game's world **_interwoven with a few of _**my own characters.  
><em>**

**_I welcome feedback, and as such I've made a Facebook group for this project; run a search for "Xenoblade Novelisation" and it should come up. It's a closed (not secret) group. You can reach me in other ways by running a search for "zarnaguamore" and checking out my blog, or finding me on Twitter as raikrhythm._**

**_I believe that's all I wanted to say. Thank you to all of the people who have been leaving encouraging and constructive comments. Please, continue to do so, and enjoy!_**


	23. Helping the Refugees

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk, Reyn, Sharla and Dunban ate an early breakfast in preparation for the day ahead. Sharla had gone around to each of the residents of the Refugee Camp, asking if there was anything they needed. She had come back with a list of items that needed to be collected and beasts to be defeated, for food, for safety, and all kinds of other reasons.

Sharla placed two pieces of paper on the table. "Here are the lists we talked about. Reyn and I will check head to the upper region of the Bionis' Leg to do a few errands up there." She looked to Shulk. "And you and Dunban are going to be doing the same, but around the Gaur Plain area."

Dunban picked up the list meant for he and Shulk.

"Wasn't Dickson meant to be joining us?" Reyn asked Sharla.

"He's staying behind to catch up with Otharon," Sharla informed him.

"Oh, okay." Reyn went back to his breakfast.

"So, Dickson's staying behind, eh?" Dunban repeated.

"He is," Sharla confirmed.

Dunban chuckled. "Lazy old man."

"Anyway," said Sharla, "I was thinking we could get these out of the way today. There are a couple we can only do at night, so we can do those later. And then there's a big one we'll need to do tomorrow."

"Big one?" Reyn echoed.

Sharla nodded. "If we head north from here, we'll hit Kamos' Guidepost, which I think you knew. North-west from there is the Tirkin Headquarters. A number of the villagers have asked us for parts of tirkins, and one man asked us to fetch some clothes they stole, and are keeping at their headquarters."

"What would a tirkin do with homs clothes?" Reyn asked incredulously.

"I have no idea," said Sharla. "But he was adamant that they have them, and we need lots of things from them, so I figured we could do them all at once."

"What do we need?" Dunban asked.

Sharla pulled out her master list and looked it over. "The clothes, some tail feathers, two crests, and we've also been asked to kill two of the brave tirkins."

"And what will we be doing tonight?"

Sharla glanced at her list again. "Collecting some wisp fluid and taking down some vangs and volffs."

"Sounds good." Dunban laid down his cutlery and gave a satisfied sigh. "The food was delicious. My compliments to the chef." He stood. "Are you ready, Shulk?"

"Uh... Nearly."

Dunban nodded. "I'll wait for you outside, then." He left.

"Ready for some training, Shulk?" Reyn teased.

"It'll be really good for him," Sharla commented.

"I think it'll be a valuable experience," Shulk agreed. "Dunban must know all kinds of things about using the Monado. That's probably why he suggested we travel together today."

"Huh. I hadn't considered that." Reyn watched Shulk as he finished his food and rose. "See you later tonight, then."

"Yeah. See you guys!" Shulk picked up his bag and exited the room, heading through the Refugee Camp and outside to meet Dunban. He greeted him as he approached, a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Ready, Shulk?"

Shulk nodded, and the two of them started heading out on to the Gaur Plain. "What were we doing out there today?" he asked.

Dunban consulted the paper Sharla had given him. "We'll mostly be defeating a few beasts that are hassling the refugees. We've also been asked to collect a few items from them, which line up nicely with the ones we've been ordered to get rid of." Looking up, he saw some creatures scuttling in the grass just outside the refugee camp. "Here's some of them now," he told Shulk.

Shulk looked around and spotted a trio of dark pink antols. They had four legs, two long pincers half the size of their bodies, and wicked-looking abdomens with large spikes protruding from their sides. "The antols?" Shulk asked.

"Yes," said Dunban. "We only need two of them, but I don't think the villagers will complain if we take down all three." He glanced at Shulk. "These won't be too difficult. Shulk, I want you to run in first. You should be able to do this one alone. If I see you fight, I can be a better teacher."

"Okay." Shulk drew the Monado and snuck up on the insects, managing to defeat the first one with a well-placed back slash before they even realised he was there. The other two rounded on him, clicking their pincers menacingly. One lunged at him; he thrust it back and took a swipe at the other, which stepped backwards. The other one scuttled forwards again; Shulk stabbed at it, and it lay still. He pulled the Monado out of its corpse as the other turned and fled.

Dunban strolled forward. "Excellent work, Shulk! Now let's head out into the plain proper. Keep an eye out arduns, bunnits and ponios; a few have gone rogue and begun attacking the refugees."

Shulk and Dunban headed together into the Gaur Plain. As they walked, Dunban gave Shulk feedback on his swordplay and stances. Some leg ardun trundled by in search of food; not the ones they were looking for, presumably, as the ones they wanted had attacked with no provocation. The boys followed the cliff face north, away from the Refugee Camp. It slowly curved away to the west, and finally they could see the Gaur Plain ahead of them.

A group of nearly half a dozen ponios galloped around the corner ahead. Shulk and Dunban leapt back, startled, as the four-legged the creatures reared up and snorted. They were light brown in colour, with white stripes along the sides of their body and their back. Running along their spine was what looked like a dark brown frill, topped off with a horn on the end of their snout. The ponios lowered their heads in challenge, pawing the ground with their hooves.

"These must be the ones Sharla heard about," exclaimed Dunban, drawing his katana. "Be careful, Shulk, they're dangerous. We need to defeat these beasts and gather some of their neck meat for the refugees."

Dunban stopped talking, and he and Shulk leapt aside as the horde charged at them, slashing at the legs of one each. The ponios staggered and fell, and were quickly silenced by the boys.

The three remaining ponios snorted in fury and attacked again, but were no match for Shulk and Dunban. They all fell to the mens' blades, after which Dunban deftly cut meat from their necks and placed them inside the bag he was carrying. Dunban sealed it tightly, and then held out his hands for Shulk to douse in water. Once he was clean, he hoisted the bag over his shoulder and consulted their list.

"We still need to track down a group of four leg ardun and three maker bunnits," said Dunban.

"Where can we find them?" Shulk asked.

Dunban pointed; Shulk could see something tall off in the distance, in the middle of the Gaur Plain. "That's the Jabos Rock Rest Area," Dunban told him. "The rogue ardun are near there, and the bunnits are off to the north." Then he added, "We'll also need to find a bunnit sapling while we're there."

"And is that everything?"

Dunban nodded. "We've making good time," he commented. "If we finish early, we might explore the leg a little bit more. There's another request here asking about a torn piece of paper that was blown by the wind which we could look for."

"Sounds good." Shulk and Dunban continued towards Jabos Rock, again discussing Shulk's fighting skills. Their conversation broke off as they neared it. Four arduns stood between them and the rock, two closer to the boys than the others.

Dunban knelt down and felt in the grass for a moment before straightening up with a rock in his hand. Shulk, realising what was about to happen, dropped his bag and drew the Monado. Dunban threw back his own bag and hurled the rock at the closer of the two beasts, so it landed near their feet.

The arduns turned and, spotting the boys, promptly lowered their heads and charged.

Shulk and Dunban leapt in different directions, before spinning and swiping at the arduns' legs, as they had with the ponios. Dunban's prey fell, but Shulk underestimated the toughness of his foe's legs, and wasn't able to cut as deeply.

Dunban's ardun cried out; he quickly killed it, but not before the other two had heard. They turned to face the boys, letting out a thunderous roar when they saw the lifeless corpse at Dunban's feet.

Shulk swiftly caught up with his ardun as it turned around for another charge, this time inflicting a long, deep wound on two of its legs. The beast bellowed, and Shulk plunged the Monado into its side. It fell, and grew still.

He looked up to see Dunban had already landed a blow on one of the two remaining beasts; it was dripping blood from its side where he'd scratched it. They were clearly distracted; Dunban was deftly dodging their attacks in what looked almost like a dance. Shulk crept up behind the injured ardun and slammed the Monado into its back, leaving a deep incision.

The creature collapsed to the ground, unmoving, leaving the final one enraged. It reared up in fury - and was promptly run through by Dunban, who swiftly wrenched his blade out of its body and jumped aside as it, too, fell.

Dunban looked up at the sky as Shulk sheathed the Monado. "It looks to be around lunchtime," he observed. He looked back to Shulk. "What say you we have something to eat and head over to the bunnits afterwards? We're making good time."

Shulk nodded. "Sounds like a plan, Dunban."

Dunban chuckled. "Was that intentional, Shulk?"

"Was what intentional?"

"The rhym- oh, never mind. Of course it wasn't." Dunban sighed.

Shulk was confused. "Sorry?"

Dunban waved a hand about. "Don't worry about it. Come, let's eat." He picked up his bag and sat with Shulk by the rock for a rest.


	24. Save the Girl!

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk and Dunban packed up their lunch at the base of Jabos Rock and got to their feet. Dunban consulted their list of items. "We need to defeat a few hoxes, and gather some of their spurs. Sharla's made a note that they're common directly north of this landmark." He tapped the rock he had just been leaning against.

"All right," said Shulk, eager to get going. "Are you ready, Dunban?"

"Of course." He faced Shulk. "Are you?"

When Shulk nodded, Dunban began to lead the way north. They passed some peaceful arduns and armus, who eyed the boys warily as they passed. Shulk glanced back at Jabos Rock. _To think that just a few days ago, we found a broken buggy lying there… _He turned his eyes back to the north, and thought he could make out some movements in the grass up ahead. "I think I can see them."

"I believe I can as well." Dunban drew his katana as Shulk pulled out the Monado. "We need totake a single bunnit sapling from a slugger bunnit and slay three make bunnits." He looked up at the beasts ahead of them, making note of their targets.

"Anything else?" Shulk asked.

"Not from this lot," Dunban replied. "Let's go, Shulk!" He lured out a group of bunnits, which consisted of one slugger and two maker bunnits. The difference between the two was, as noted by Sharla, that the former held a wooden club in its tail, while the latter grasped a piece of Mechon scrap. The boys quickly took out the slugger bunnit, as it lunged at them ahead of the other two, who were soon to follow. Shulk and Dunban found another, stray maker bunnit wandering around nearby. As if sensing their intention, it attacked them as they approached, and was quickly defeated.

Dunban consulted their list once more. "All that's left is the torn piece of paper and three moth crawlers."

Shulk scratched his head. "How do we know the paper hasn't blown off one of the cliffs around here? Or into the water."

Dunban sighed. "We don't, unfortunately. It's as simple as that. We can take a look around, but if we don't find it, we'll just have to the man it's disappeared."

"I hope we find it."

Shulk and Dunban headed south, enjoying the sunshine on the Gaur Plain. "This place is beautiful," Shulk remarked.

"It is," Dunban agreed. The two passed Jabos Rock again as they continued their search for the torn paper. They passed over the bridge under which ran the river that cut the Gaur Plain in half. On the other side of the bridge, Dunban paused. He turned to Shulk. "How about we split up?" he suggested. "You keep heading this way, while I'll head off to the left. Then we could search the Gaur Plain. If we still haven't found it, we'll head back to the refugee camp."

Shulk nodded. "Sounds good."

"All right then." Dunban turned to leave. "And keep an eye out for moth crawlers!" He headed off towards the east. Shulk continued south, towards the edge of the plain.

The cliffs on either side of Shulk slowly closed the gap that lay between them as he walked. Shulk took a deep breath, relishing the fresh air filling his lungs. _I wonder what it's like living out here._ He slowed as he reached the very edge of the Gaur Plain; to his left and to his right rose steep cliffs, while before him they fell away into oblivion.

Shulk spotted something bright moving out of the corner of his eye. To his surprise, it was a small piece of paper, stuck against a rock and lightly fluttering in the wind. He hurried over to it and picked it up, looking it over. _This must be it. _Pleased with himself, Shulk folded and pocketed the paper before heading off to find Dunban. He headed north and then east, hoping to catch up with Dunban before he made it back to the plain proper.

As Shulk walked, he saw there a waterfall gushing out of the cliff face ahead. In front of it stood two people. Shulk frowned. _Two? Did Dunban meet up with someone?_ As he approached, Shulk was startled to see four fresh volff corpses. He hurried over to Dunban, who Shulk saw was talking to a young girl holding a bag made of ponio hide. "What's happened?" Shulk asked.

The girl jumped when she saw him. "This young lady here was swimming under the waterfall when she was attacked by these creatures," Dunban informed Shulk, gesturing at the volffs scattered across the ground. Shulk counted four of them. "I killed them all before she came to any harm."

"Oh. Good work, Dunban."

Dunban nodded, and Shulk could see he was distracted by something. _Better not to ask_. Shulk broke the sudden silence by pulling the paper out of his pocket. "I found it, Dunban!"

"Ah, excellent!" said Dunban happily. "Where was it?"

"Right on the edge of the plain. If I had've been a little bit later, we might have lost it."

"I must confess, I didn't think we'd be able to accomplish that one," Dunban admitted. "Very good, Shulk." He turned to the girl. "My friend and I were about to head back to the refugee camp," he said gently. "Are you ready to leave?"

The girl clutched her bag tightly and nodded.

"All right. Let's get going then." He, Shulk and the girl trekked back to the refugee camp. Her name was Ophelia, she said, and had been bathing underneath the waterfall when the volffs surrounded her.

"I just wanted to get away from everyone," she mumbled as they walked alongside the cliff face. "There's so many people in such a little place. I just wanted to have some peace and quiet and be alone for a little while." Ophelia looked up at the sky. "But then those monsters attacked me…"

"You shouldn't have been out on your own," Dunban told her. "It's dangerous to be out here by yourself. There are monsters, and there are even some Mechon are still walking around the place."

Ophelia sighed as they continued their walk. The trio managed to find three moth crawlers by the time they made it back to the refugee camp. Ophelia faced faced the boys, hugging her bag to her chest. "Thank you for saving me!" And with that, she ran off into the cave.

Shulk and Dunban wandered around the refugee camp, seeking out those who had given them requests. They handed over the piece of torn paper and the bunnit sapling, reporting the monsters they had managed to slay. Finally, they reached Matryona, her cloak pulled over her head to hide her face. She was talking with Ewan, and broke off the conversation as they approached.

Dunban held out his bloody bag. "Ponio neck meat, as requested."

Matryona, delighted, glanced at Ewan, who looked surprised. "I'll take these," he muttered, glancing at Matryona. "Thanks." He sauntered off, leaving the boys with the ecstatic artist.

"What did he need these for, anyway?" Dunban asked.

Matryona shrugged off the question. "I don't know, to be honest. All I know is, thanks to you, we can start that picture book?"

"Sorry?"

Matryona took a moment to calm herself down. "There's a young Nopon boy called Pama who lost both of his parents when the Mechon attacked," she told the boys. "He doesn't socialise with the other kids, and doesn't even talk to us adults. He just wanders the refugee camp alone, and he says things…" Matryona faltered, and for a moment she lost her gusto. Then her face brightened again. "So I thought I'd make him a picture book! I can do the art myself, but… I'm terrible at writing. Ewan has such beautiful penmanship, I thought I'd ask him for help."

"And he wanted the neck meat before he'd agree to help you?" Dunban confirmed.

Matryona nodded. "Yes! So thanks to you two, it looks like we're finally going to start that picture book."

Shulk smiled. "That's excellent to hear!" Matryona beamed. "I think I'll go start working on it right now!" She bid the boys farewell and hurried off to begin her story.

"Hey."

Shulk and Dunban turned to see Ewan standing nearby, watching them.

"You were Ewan, correct?" when the man nodded, Dunban held out his hand. "I'm Dunban, he's Shulk," he nodded at his friend. "Did you need something of us?"

Ewan flicked his blonde hair out of his eyes as he stared up at the roof. "I do. I have a favour to ask." He took a deep breath, and then met Dunban's gaze through his glasses. "Matryona and I were talking earlier, and she told me that she was missing a paint she needed to create this book. This is really important to her, and I… she…" Ewan trailed off, looking flustered.

Dunban cut in. "So how can we help?"

Ewan snapped back to attention and refocused. "I can make the paint she needs, but I'll need sour gooseberries. I'll require four to make enough for the book."

"And where can we find them?"

"Right here!"

Shulk, Dunban and Ewan were startled to see Reyn, who wandered over carefully so as not to drop the basket he was struggling to hold.

"What on Bionis is that, Reyn?" Shulk asked.

Reyn placed the basket on the ground and opened it up; dozens of red fruits sat inside it. "We passed a tree full of 'em, and Sharla made me pick 'em all," Reyn informed the group.

"Why?" Shulk asked blankly.

Reyn shrugged his massive shoulders. "She just loves 'em, as far as I can tell."

"Hey!" Sharla's indignant voice preceded her appearance in the camp. "They're for the colony!"

"But you were chuggin' 'em down an' all."

Sharla's face turned a shade of red deeper than the berries. "I was not!"

"Regardless," Dunban interrupted. "Sharla, do you mind if Ewan takes four of these?"

"No, go for it." She looked at Ewan. "What are they for, if you don't mind my asking?"

"They're a gift for a lady," Dunban told her, smiling.

Ewan's face turned the colour Sharla's had been moments ago. "It's not like that!" He snapped. With that, he took four of the berries and stalked off.

Reyn scratched his head. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing." Dunban turned to Sharla. "How did you two go?"

"We were able to complete everything we were asked to do," Sharla replied. "How did you two go?"

"Everything went well." Dunban glanced back at his friend. "Wouldn't you say, Shulk?"

Shulk nodded. "Yeah, it went really well. I learned a lot from Dunban, too."

"We were going out tonight again, yeah?" Reyn asked.

Sharla nodded. "We just need to defeat a few leg volff and collect some wisp fluid. It shouldn't be too difficult. The wisp fluid is the most important part; Olga needs it for his medicine."

"How did your search for the ultimate ether deposit go?" Shulk asked.

Reyn and Sharla looked at each other. Sharla spoke. "We were told there was an everlasting ether deposit in Kisk Cave, which is pretty close to here," she said slowly.

_She's talking strangely._ "Was there something wrong with it?" Shulk pressed.

Reyn scowled. "He lied! Earnest, the guy who told us, he fibbed! After we gathered a bit of ether, it ran out. Like normal. We even waited around for a while, but nothing happened."

Sharla sighed. "I'm going to go talk to him before we go out tonight. The rest of you, relax. Someone will fetch you for dinner. We at least got the moth crawlers out of it."

Shulk and Dunban jumped guiltily. "We, uh, kind of... Forgot about those."

"It's all good man," grinned Reyn. "We found a whole bunch in the cave."

"Are you sure you don't want one of us to accompany you to see Earnest, Sharla?" Dunban asked.

Sharla shook her head. "I'll be fine," she assured them. "I'll catch up with you all later. Don't let Reyn do anything stupid."

"Hey!" Reyn protested. Shulk, Sharla and Dunban laughed.

"All right, see you guys later!" Sharla exited the camp to go find Earnest.


	25. Raguel Lake

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

After night fell, Shulk, Sharla, Reyn and Dunban met just outside the entrance to the refugee camp, bags about their shoulders.

"So," Sharla began, "tonight, all we've got to do is collect five lots of glowing wisp fluid and defeat three leg volffs. Wisps are just north of the camp, and the volffs are north-east in Viliera Hill."

As she spoke, Matryona bounded out of the refugee camp, looking ecstatic. "I just wanted to say thank you!" she gushed. "Ewan told me that you gave him the sour gooseberries he needed to make my paint! I've already started to paint the book! I've stopped for now though, because I need that colour he's making."

Shulk was startled by a sudden flash in his mind's eye, and found himself visited by a vision.

He saw a young Nopon boy standing in the shallows of Raguel Lake, and was alarmed when he strayed too far into the water and began screaming for help.

Shulk, back in the present, let out a loud gasp.

Reyn glanced at Shulk. "Oi. You all right, Shulk?"

Shulk faced the confused artist. "Matryona! Does Raguel Lake have any part in your story?"

The artist looked startled. "Why yes, it does. How did you know?"

"Shulk can see visions of the future," Reyn told her quickly. He turned to his friend. "You have one just now? What did you see?"

Shulk nodded. "After reading Matryona's book, Pama went out to the lake to defeat the monster he had read about in the story," he said. "He went too far into the lake, and… and he drowned."

Matryona took a step back, eyes wide. "But how…"

"I didn't believe it at first either," Sharla told Matryona. "But trust me. If Shulk says he saw it, it's going to happen. How far into the book are you? Can you change it?"

"Pretty far with the painting." Matryona hesitated. "I could change it, though, if you managed to find something for me." She looked to Sharla. "A special drop of liquid from the lake should do it. They can be found _near _the lake, but not _in _the lake. Find dry ground as close to the waterfall and to the ground as possible, and you should find one. Once I have that, I can alter the paintings I've already done."

Sharla nodded, and turned to the boys. "Do you guys mind if we make a detour to Raguel Lake tonight?"

"I would quite like to see it at night," Dunban commented. Shulk and Reyn agreed.

Sharla turned back to Matryona. "Okay! So we'll go and get that lake drop for you. We'll give it to you when we get back."

Matryona beamed. "Thank you again! Good luck out there!" She hurried back into the cave.

Sharla looked to Shulk, Reyn and Dunban. "Are we ready to go, boys?"

"Ready when you are!" Reyn affirmed.

Sharla hesitated. "I spoke to Earnest again. He said the endless ether deposit was actually in the Tranquil Grotto."

"He's already lied to us once," Reyn spat. "Why'd he be tellin' us the truth this time?"

"I wasn't sure if I should bring it up," Sharla admitted, "but it's in a corner in Raguel Lake. And since we're going there for the lake drop, I thought we could check out the ether deposit while we were there."

"Hmm…" Dunban looked to the boys. "We'll be going out that way anyway. Why not take a look? It'll be a small price to pay if it's true."

"I agree," said Shulk.

"Pah! All right. But this time, Shulk and Dunban have to go," said Reyn.

"That's all right with me. Shulk?"

When Shulk nodded, Dunban smiled. "Well, that's settled. Shall we get going, then?"

He, Shulk and Reyn followed Sharla out of the refugee camp and out on to the plain. Bright yellow lights flitted back and forth across the grass, shining a light on the insects they were attached to. "Those are the wisps, yeah?" Reyn asked Sharla.

Sharla nodded. "That they are. We need five lots of their fluid for Olga's medicine. We'll gather these first, and then head over to Viliera Hill."

"All right!" exclaimed Reyn. "Let's get to work!"

The boys quickly learned that the wisps were difficult to catch, and when they got close, would simply fly out of reach. Shulk laughed as Reyn kept trying to hit one with his lance, leaping through the air and waving it around.

Dunban sighed in frustration. "They're simply too quick for us."

The boys turned as they heard Sharla laughing behind them, and saw she was holding five flasks filled with a glowing yellow fluid. "I think my rifle is much better suited for this one," she chuckled. She placed the flasks in her bag and turned to the north-east. "Let's head over to the hill. We have three volffs we need to defeat there; maybe you guys can be more useful this time." She started to lead the way, still grinning.

The party struck north-east towards Viliera Hill. A small pack of volffs stalked around beneath the rocky platforms that lay in the middle of the Bionis' Leg. They were brown, four-legged creatures with sharp, deadly-looking fangs. There were three in all.

"We need to defeat the pack," Sharla told the group. "It shouldn't be too difficult." She reloaded her rifle, looking out over the plain. "I'm ready when you guys are."

"All right," said Dunban. "Reyn, Shulk!"

"Ready," Shulk confirmed.

"Then let's go!" Reyn ran in first, shouting at the volffs to draw their attention. Dunban dashed in after him with Shulk in tow, Sharla hanging back with her rifle.

The beasts turned their attention to Reyn. One of them leapt at him, snarling. Reyn caught it on his shield and twisted, thrusting it upwards over his head so it landed behind him. It fell victim to Dunban's blade with a pitiful welp.

The remaining two volffs roared and bounded towards Reyn. Reyn stopped and stood his ground, watching them approach. Dunban skidded to a stop beside him, on guard.

A loud bang rent the air as Sharla fired a round into the pair of beasts, and the volffs leapt apart, snarling.

"Now!" Dunban and Reyn dashed towards the volff closest to them, which tried to defend itself but ultimately ended up impaled by the boys.

Their remaining foe leapt towards Dunban, claws extended, fangs bared, ready to taste its prey.

Shulk spun on the spot; the Monado glowed yellow, and he cried, "Monado Shield!" A yellow pulse reverberated from across the ground, enveloping Dunban and stopping the volff mid-air with a sickening _crunch_.

Reyn leapt forward and stabbed the volff, which then ceased to move. Shulk finally caught up with Reyn and Dunban, and Sharla wandered over. "That'll keep the residents happy for a little while," said Sharla. "Shall we head over to the lake now?"

Reyn grunted. "So Sharla and I will look for the lake drop, yeah? And Dunban and Shulk will try to find the ether deposit."

"Yes, that was what we agreed to," smiled Dunban.

"You'll see," growled Reyn. "I'll bet that fibber Earnest is up to more mischief."

"Anyway," said Sharla, "Let's get going." She and the boys headed south-east, quietly taking in the dark, quiet atmosphere of the area as they went. Sharla led them over a thin strip of land which took them over the corner of the lake and offered an unobstructed view of it as it spread out towards the east. The air was still, the moon reflected off what looked like a sheet of glass beneath it. A gentle breeze rippled across the lake, and the glass was shattered. The party continued their trek.

Eventually they hit upon Raguel Bridge, which they crossed. "Where are we going, exactly?" Shulk asked.

Sharla turned and pointed off to the right. "We'll both be heading that way. Reyn and I will head south from the bridge. You and Dunban will need to get down to the lake's edge and swim across to the grotto, which is behind that waterfall."

"Swim?" Shulk exclaimed.

Sharla nodded. "That's where Earnest said the ether deposit is."

"But we'll catch a cold," Dunban protested.

"You guys'll be fine," Reyn grinned, slapping Shulk on the back. He sighed.

At the end of the bridge, the party turned towards the south, following the cliff face to their left and noting that the sheer drop to their right crept closer and closer as they walked. At the end of the grassy path lay a shining droplet of water. "That must be it," said Dunban.

Sharla pulled a vial from her bag and carefully scooped up the liquid. "So," she looked up at Shulk and Dunban as she put it away, "what are you two going to do now?"

"How do we get down there?" Shulk asked.

"You can get down from the north side of the lake," she told them. "You'd need to come back across the bridge and go all the way around."

"Far too long," Dunban declared. "I say we jump in, and then swim out!"

"What!?" Reyn was startled.

"You can't be serious!" Shulk protested. Sharla laughed.

"Yes!" Dunban turned to Shulk. "If we want to be back by morning, it's the only way." He looked to Reyn and Sharla. "You two can head back and deliver everything we acquired. Shulk and I will be back later."

"Sounds good to me," grinned Reyn.

"Hold on a minute!" Shulk exclaimed. "Don't I get a say in all this!?"

"Ah," grinned Dunban, putting an arm about Shulk's shoulders, "but you've already agreed to it!" He walked over to the cliff's edge. "Come, Shulk!" He stripped off his shirt and sword and threw them aside. "Can you two take these back for us?"

"All right," giggled Sharla.

Shulk looked out over the edge of the cliff. _That actually isn't as bad as the drop from the Cylinder Hangar back home_. Shulk sighed and cast his own shirt aside, but hesitated with the Monado. _I can't let anyone else hold this._ He replaced the sword and took a deep breath. "I'm ready when you are, Dunban."

Sharla and Reyn bundled up the boys' clothes and Dunban's sword. "See you two later!" She and Reyn turned and began the trek back to the refugee camp.

Dunban backed up to the cliff face, before running to the edge of the path and leaping into the water below.

_Here goes_. Shulk took a few steps back, and then plunged headlong off the cliff and into the water below.

Water enveloped him. He surfaced for air and looked around for Dunban. He followed his friend south, passing through a waterfall and into a cave behind it. In there lay an ether deposit. "This must be it," he commented.

He and Dunban approached the ether deposit, and together began to collect ether crystals. After a short time, the deposit ceased to glow and the boys could no longer harvest the crystals. Dunban sighed. "Looks like Reyn was right."

"So now what?" Shulk asked.

"We head back and tell the others." Dunban looked at the sword on his friend's back. "Doesn't that weigh you down, Shulk?"

Shulk shook his head. "Not at all. It's… very strange."

"Very interesting, I think." Dunban looked out the cave entrance, his view obscured by the gushing waterfall. "We should probably start heading back."

Shulk agreed, and the two headed out into the water and began swimming north. The lake was much, much bigger than either of them had realised; by the time they made it to the north shore, they were both exhausted.

Shulk shivered as the cool night air brushed his bare skin, where Dunban didn't even seem to flinch. The two flopped on to the ground to rest, panting heavily.

"Aren't you c-c-cold, Dunban?" Shulk stammered through clattering teeth.

Dunban ran his hands down his arms, brushing off the water. Shulk did the same. "We learn to deal with a lot of things in the army," he replied. "Endurance was simply part of our training."

After the boys caught their breath, they stood and began heading back to the refugee camp. They followed the cliff as it twisted and turned, leading back up to high ground, both too tired to make conversation. They then struck south-west, passing through Viliera Hill, past the wisps, and back into the refugee camp.

"It doesn't look like anyone's awake," Shulk whispered.

Dunban nodded. "We might just head to sleep and report to the others in the morning." He sounded exhausted.

Shulk agreed, and the two crept into their rooms, changed, and then lay down to sleep.


	26. Beware the Tirkin!

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

As the sun was making its descent towards the horizon, Shulk, Reyn, Sharla and Dunban met in the dining room of the refugee camp for a meal before they headed off to defeat the tirkins.

"So we'd planned to do this at dawn," Sharla began, "but acquiring the lake drop meant Shulk and Dunban got back far later than I'd initially anticipated."

Shulk scratched his head, embarrassed. "Sorry about that."

Sharla shook her head with a smile. "No need to apologise, Shulk. There was no easy way for you two to get back here. Anyway," she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket, "the tirkins have been giving the refugees a fair bit of grief." She consulted her list of errands from the residents; many of the points had now been crossed out as a result of the party's adventuring over the past few days. "They've stolen a bunch of clothes, and a few of the braver ones have been intimidating some of the villagers. We've also been asked to find some tirkin crests and tirkin tail feathers so the villagers can make more clothes." She folded up her list and looked around the table. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," said Reyn. "Where _are_ their headquarters?"

"The entrance is by the Rho Oasis," Sharla answered. "That's where you first ran into Juju after his buggy broke down."

"All right, cool."

"Will we have to defeat them all?" Dunban enquired.

Sharla sighed. "I'm not sure, to be honest. I hope not, but we may have to."

"Any idea on their numbers?"

Sharla rubbed her head warily. "A couple of dozen, I've been told. Apparently they hang out in pairs, so we might be able to pick them off in smaller groups. Aside from that, the entrance to their headquarters is through a narrow cave. At worst, we might be able to fight a bunch of them in there; they won't all be able to fit, so we can pick them off in small groups."

"Sounds good," said Dunban approvingly. "It seems like you've fought this through."

"Keeping everyone alive has been my job for a while now," Sharla replied.

"Fair enough." Dunban looked to his friends. "Are we all ready to go?" When everyone nodded, he rose. "Then let's head off. Sharla," he turned to her, "can you lead the way?"

"Of course." Sharla hitched on her shoulder bag and left with the boys, heading north out of the refugee camp.

"No Dickson again?" mused Reyn.

"He wants us to learn to work together as a team," Dunban replied. "He'll journey with us for a little while, but says he will have to go back to travelling on his own before long."

Reyn sighed, but Sharla was quietly grateful. "Any idea when we'll be on the road again?" Reyn asked.

"We should probably make it soon," said Dunban. "The longer we wait, the more powerful the Mechon become." He looked to the gun bobbing along in front of him. "Did you still want to come with us, Sharla?"

"I do," Sharla affirmed. "I need to find Gadolt, and the rest of the members of Colony 6. They can't all have just... They wouldn't have..." her mind flung back to the bloodstained floor at the bottom of the Ether Mine and a shudder wracked her body.

"We'll find 'em," Reyn assured her. "And we could always use a healer."

"You mean you could always use a healer," Shulk teased.

"Oi!"

Sharla laughed. Once they hit Kamos Guidepost, she turned north-west, the boys following suit. The Rho Oasis came into view; a pool of fed by a waterfall gushing out of the cliff face, surrounded on all sides by grass. Relics of an ancient civilisation jutted out of it; stone pillars, broken and lying in the water.

_I wonder who built those,_ Shulk wondered. _Probably the same people who built the ruins where we found that mirror. _He looked up at the sky; it was getting dark.

"So where's the entrance to the headquarters?" Reyn asked eagerly.

Sharla pointed to the cliff to the right of the oasis, where a couple of tirkins could be seen flanking the entrance to a cave. "There, where those tirkins are," she replied. "Those two are on guard. So we'll start with them."

Dunban pre-emptively placed a hand on Reyn. "There's another one just inside the cave," he advised. "It's probably a scout. We'll have to be careful about this. If we let it get away, it will alert the others to our presence." He looked up at the sky, the sun was low, beginning to dip below the horizon. "We can sneak up on them. Reyn should be able to deal with the ones out front with Sharla's assistance. Shulk and I can break through and deal with the scout before it can leave."

The party agreed and slowly began to make their way towards the cave. They were nearly upon the tirkins when Dunban raised an arm, signalling to stop. "Shulk, you and I will run in first," he whispered. "We need to get past them and take out the scout. Reyn, Sharla," he glanced at them crouched together, "come in after us and keep the guards occupied. We'll help you after we eliminate the scout." When the two nodded, he turned back to the cave entrance. "On three, then. One... Two... Three!"

Dunban and Shulk dashed forwards, Reyn and Sharla in hot pursuit. The tirkins in the entrance jumped and attempted to block their path, but Dunban parried a blow from one of their spears and continued running, Shulk right behind him. They heard the clash of metal as Reyn met their foes.

Dunban caught up to the fleeing scout and overtook it, skidding to a stop in front of it and brandishing his sword. The creature pulled out its weapon just in time to block his first attack; Shulk slashed it from behind, startling it and giving Dunban a chance to overwhelm it. The tirkin fell to the ground, and the boys ran back to the entrance to give Reyn and Sharla a hand.

They quickly felled the tirkins by the entrance, and Sharla was able to collect some tail feathers. "Two crests, a couple of brave ones and the clothes, now," she said.

The party headed deeper into the cave, weapons out, watching for more tirkins. They only spotted more tirkins when they reached the other end of the passage, where two guards stood just outside the mouth of the cave.

Reyn and Dunban quietly headed in different directions, each heading towards a tirkin. At the same time, they jumped on one and muffled it; Reyn dragged his back into the cave and finished it there, while Dunban ran his through and dumped it next to Reyn's.

Sharla gathered the required tirkin crests and informed the party these were the brave tirkins they had been asked to take care of.

_So all we have to do is find the clothes._ Shulk turned to his friends and stated as such.

Sharla nodded. "We might want to split up," she advised. "It'll be easier to sneak around in twos."

"But then how will we communicate?" Dunban asked.

"Dunban's got a point," Reyn said. "I say we stick together and smash 'em."

"I don't think we should attack them head-on," Shulk put in.

"Nor do I," Dunban agreed, "especially when there are so many of them in such a small area. If someone is spotted, they'll all flock towards them and in such large numbers… We may not fair well."

He edged towards the end of the cave to observe the area. After a few minutes, he wandered back over. "They're walking around in small groups," he told them, "just like Sharla said. But we might be able to use the cover of night to sneak past them. If we're in a group, we can better defend ourselves."

"Any idea where the clothes are?" Reyn asked.

"There's a big area at the back, where there's a giant tirkin," said Dunban. "I suspect they may be there."

"Sweet!" exclaimed Reyn. "Shall we get going?"

The party filed out of the cave and turned left, hugging the cliff face. Dunban was in the lead, followed by Shulk and Sharla with Reyn bringing up the rear. They crept past the tirkins, who failed to notice them as they walked. Eventually they found themselves on the opposite side of the clearing, behind the giant tirkin Dunban had described.

It was twice the size of a regular tirkin, and had its back turned to the four friends. In a pile on the ground were the clothes the old man from the refugee camp had asked them to retrieve. Shulk picked them up, bundled them and handed them to Sharla, who placed them in her bag. The four then crept back out of the headquarters and back into the cave, where they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"All right!" Reyn grinned as they strolled through the cave and back on to the Bionis' Leg proper. Night had well and truly fallen; it was difficult to see where they were heading. Thankfully, Sharla knew the way well.

"That's all of the requests we've gotten from the refugees," she said, smiling.

"So when will we head off?" Shulk asked.

"I say we stay for a couple more days to relax," said Dunban.

"Sounds good," Sharla agreed. "I can ask the refugees to get some supplies together for our journey."

"Sweet!" said Reyn excitedly. "We can go swimming in the lake!"

The party hit Kamos Guidepost and began their trek south.

"So," said Dunban, "a few days to relax and then we'll be heading off to the Satorl Marsh."

"Will Dickson be joining us?" Reyn asked.

Dunban nodded. "We'll sort that out in a few days. For now, though... " he smiled as the cliff leading to the camp came into view, "take time off to relax."

_**The reason we've been stuck on the Leg for so long is because I simply didn't realise how long it would take to get through all these quests! I picked out all the quests before I started writing them, and had no idea it would take this long. It's been a good learning experience, and next time I'll be sure to either pick less quests or work them into the story more (probably a combination of both). Moving on to Satorl Marsh next chapter! Sorry for staying too long on the Leg; won't happen again, I swear!**_


	27. Satorl Marsh

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Bags were tied, weapons secured and supplies given one final check. Shulk, Reyn, Dunban and Sharla were ready to resume their quest to chase the faced Mechon across the Bionis, accompanied by Dickson, Otharon and Juju.

Having said all their farewells the night before, Sharla turned to the boys. "I think we're all set," she said.

"Well then," said Dickson, "we'd best get going then, hey?"

"Where will we be heading?" asked Shulk.

"We'll be heading through Satorl Marsh," Dickson replied. "As you may have gathered from the name, it's basically a giant swamp. That will take us out to Makna Forest, where the Nopon live. From there we'll head through the Bionis' Left Shoulder, and then make it on to the Eryth Sea, where Prison Island is also located."

"And the High Entia live in Eryth Sea?" Shulk confirmed.

"I thought you were just after Prison Island, Shulk," Dickson said wryly.

"Well… It's just…"

"It's just that it's not often we get a chance to see a living legend," said Dunban. "Is that what you were getting at, Shulk?"

"Well, there is that," Shulk admitted. "But given they're such an ancient race, I thought maybe they'll know something about the Monado."

"Interesting thought, that one," Dunban mused.

"Well, we won't get any closer just standing here," Dickson pointed out. "We can walk and talk. Come on." And he turned on his heel and walked out of the camp.

The others were quick to follow, heading east towards Raguel Bridge and over the lake. They hit upon Maguel Road, which led them to the upper part of the Bionis' Leg.

"Juju and I won't go with you very far," Otharon informed the group as they continued towards Bask Cave.

"Why's that?" Reyn asked.

"We want to stay with the refugees and rebuild the colony," piped up Juju.

Otharon nodded. "We need to recover. Juju and I will move the residents back into our old home, and we'll all have to pull together to get everything back to the way it was."

"What if the Mechon attack again?" asked Reyn.

"The colony will be much easier to defend than that tiny camp," said Sharla. "There are more resources there as well. And the Mechon fortified it while they were there, so we can use their own upgrades against them."

"Plus, it'll do everyone good to be back home again!" Juju exclaimed excitedly. "They've all really wanted to get back home; they keep telling me so."

"You're gonna take care of everyone, ain't ya kiddo?" Reyn ruffled the boy's hair, who shook him off and jumped on Reyn's back in protest. Sharla laughed.

The party came out of Bask Cave and on to the Supply Road, which they followed south. It took them past Colony 6, which they saw had indeed been fortified; formidable tall grey metal barriers had been erected around its perimeter, with only a small doorway allowing entry.

"It's all dead brown dirt on the inside," said Otharon. "But we'll change that."

The party continued south, passing a depot used to store and repair the colony's transport pods. There were only a couple left in the bay; the rest had been lost in the Mechon attack, Otharon told them. They continued on their way, becoming engulfed in more and more mist as they went.

"Where's all this mist coming from?" Reyn mused.

"Misty Path," growled Dickson. "We must be close to Satorl Marsh; it's always misty there."

The mist thickened as they walked, the ground becoming softer beneath their feet. "I've never seen anything like this!" said Shulk in wonder.

"Y'see?" said Dickson triumphantly. "This is why I've been saying you need to get out of the lab every now and then." He turned to address the group. "We're aiming to get inside the Bionis. We can get to the upper regions from there."

"Wow…" Sharla turned the thought over in her mind. "I've never thought about going inside the Bionis."

"The closer we get to the top, the more monster trouble we're gonna run into," Dickson informed them. "The only things that venture this far in are the Nopon Merchants, and curious types like me."

"You really know all the fun spots, eh, Dickson?" Dunban grinned.

"You wanna get to the top?" laughed Dickson. "Then this is the only way."

"We'll push on." Shulk's determined voice cut into the conversation. He stared across the marsh. "No matter what."

"That's the spirit, Shulk," said Dickson approvingly. "So, shall we get going again then?"

The group struck south once more, the mist pressing in on them from all sides. They carefully avoided the pools of murky water strewn across the marsh. Upas scurried around in the water; small lizard-like creatures, this species light blue in colour. Fluffy grey birds which Dickson called Quadwings sat in the trees above their heads, watching them as they passed by. Trees were growing out of the water that had a faint, pale glow to their tips.

Sharla paused. "Everyone, look." They turned their attention to the direction Sharla was facing. "It's a group of Nopon."

"Ah," said Dickson. "Some Nopon Merchants."

"What d'ya think they're up to?" Reyn mused.

"They must be here for a reason," said Sharla. "Let's go and ask them."

"Good idea," Shulk agreed.

The party crossed an old wooden bridge that led to a mound of earth in the middle of a patch of water. There were three Nopon here, accompanied by an armu. When the Nopon saw them coming, one of them started jumping up and down anxiously.

"Is everything all right?" Dunban asked.

"No good, no good!" squeaked the blue Nopon who was jumping up and down. "Kacha has gone missing! Kacha has gone missing!" He was clearly beside himself.

"Please, calm down!" begged one of the other Nopon, this one yellow.

Dunban turned his attention to the yellow Nopon. "What's going on here?"

"Our friend Kacha go walking in Marsh," explained the yellow Nopon. "He researcher. But he been missing now, missing since yesterday."

"Do you know where he was heading?"

"Exile Fortress," said the yellow Nopon. "But even if you find him, we cannot return to village."

"And why is that?"

"Too many monsters. They keep attacking us."

"Well, we happen to be experts at exterminating nasty creatures," Dunban told the Nopon. "Once we find your friend, we could defeat them for you."

"Really?" The Nopon sounded amazed.

Dunban turned to his friends. "What say you? Do you think we could help these Nopon out?"

"Absolutely!" exclaimed Reyn. Almost everyone nodded in agreement, which didn't escape Dunban's notice.

"Dickson?" he called. "What about you?"

Dickson hesitated for a fraction of a second. _If they take that mirror up to the fortress…_ He laughed. "Of course, Dunban. My head was just somewhere else."

"Excellent!" Dunban turned back to the Nopon. "We'll take care of them all for you."

"Ooooh! In that case, I have list. You can have, if you like."

"Sounds good," said Dunban. He took the piece of paper the Nopon offered and looked it over. "So there are four creatures you'd like us to kill for you?"

The Nopon nodded. "Most creatures ignore you when you walk by. Some groups attack when see you."

"So you want us to defeat these ones?" Dunban confirmed.

The Nopon nodded.

"Was there anything else?"

The Nopon shook his head. "Just help Kacha, please!"

"All right." Dunban folded up the Nopon's scrawls and tucked the paper into his pocket. "We'll go find Kacha and bring him back here."

"Thank you!" squeaked the yellow Nopon, joining his friend in the air.

"No problem." He turned to the group. "Shall we move on?"

"Where is this fortress?" asked Reyn.

"It's south-east of here," Dickson drawled. "I've camped there before on my travels. Bit of a hike, but we'll manage."

"Can you lead the way, old man?" grinned Otharon.

"Don't you go calling me that, grandpa," Dickson growled. "But yes, I can. If you'll all follow me." He led the party across another small bridge and on to solid ground.

"There's so much water here," said Reyn in disgust. "And the ground is way more wet than it should be, even when it's not near water."

"That's what a marsh is, Reyn," Sharla teased.

"Have you never been here before, hotheaded one?" Otharon asked.

"'Hotheaded one'? What's that supposed to mean!?"

"I think you just proved his point, Reyn," said Shulk, starting to laugh.

Reyn sighed. "Oh… Whatever. But no, me and Shulk have never been through Tephra cave before. And we don't have a swamp in Colony 9!"

"Truly?" Otharon was surprised. "Not even to the Bionis' Leg?"

"No," said Shulk. "All of this is new to us."

"I've never been through Tephra Cave either," said Juju.

"Have you been here before?" Shulk asked him.

Juju nodded. "Yeah, but not very far."

"Really?" said Sharla coolly. "Because I haven't taken you, and I've told you not to go on your own."

"I wasn't alone!" Juju insisted. "I was with some friends from school."

"And were there any adults with you?"

"Well… Um…"

"Wow!" shouted Reyn. "Check that out!"

As they crossed another makeshift wooden bridge, the party turned to see water pouring over the side of a cliff on their left. "Zaldania Falls," Dickson recalled.

"It's so cool!" exclaimed Juju.

"We have something similar on the Bionis' Leg, Juju," Sharla pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's still cool!"

"I agree," said Shulk. "Nature's beauty really is something else."

Sharla smiled. "You haven't seen the true beauty of the Marsh yet. Speaking of which," she looked up at the sky, "it looks like it's getting dark. I know a good place where we can rest."

"But what about the Nopon at the fortress?" Reyn pointed out.

"It wouldn't do us any good to march through the night and show up tired," Dunban replied. "If he's not back yet, he must have run into trouble. We'll head out at first light."

"Sounds good," agreed Otharon. "Medic, can you take us to this place of yours?"

"Of course." Sharla took the lead from Dickson and headed south from the falls. A huge body of water lay to their right at all times, unbreaking. The faintly glowing trees were scattered throughout it, and it almost seemed to Shulk that they slowly brightened as the sky darkened.

Sharla stopped next to a giant, gnarled old tree with vines growing all across its trunk. "This is the Crown Tree," she told the group. "It's away from the monsters, and it gives us a view of this entire swampy section of the marsh."

The group quickly set up camp and began cooking dinner. "So, Dunban," said Reyn. "What was on that list the Nopon gave you?"

Dunban pulled the note out of his jacket. "Let's see… He wants us to hunt two detox brogs, three coppice quadwings, two mist rhoguls and one officer volff."

"Dickson's already told us about quadwings. But what are rhoguls?" Shulk asked.

"Big bloody brown flappers that lurk around the swamp," growled Dickson. "It wouldn't surprise me if we run into some on the way to the fortress tomorrow. Generally quite pleasant till you get near 'em."

"So the brogs and volffs must be species adapted to live in this area," Shulk mused aloud.

"You would be correct."

Sharla looked up at the sky again after they'd finished eating. _It's dark out now._ She looked back down at the boys, smiling. "Come with me; I want to show you something." She stood and walked towards the Crown Tree. The guys gave each other a baffled look before getting to their feet and following her up the tree.

There was a collective gasp as they reached the top.

The trees growing in the water were now glowing a light blue, bathing the entire area in a faint light. Everywhere before them, mist coloured every shade of blue and purple swirled from the tops of the trees, dissipating into the night sky. It was unlike anything Shulk and Reyn had ever seen.

"I saw the trees the last time we came through here, but…" Dunban was awed. "I haven't seen them from above before. It's… magnificent." His throat tightened, and he ceased speaking. _Fiora would have loved this_.

"I never imagined… Anything could be this beautiful…" murmured Shulk.

"This place looks so different at night," muttered Reyn. Sharla smiled.

The party sat atop the tree for what felt like hours, just watching the mist rise above the trees and admiring the shifting lights. Eventually, they began to grow tired, so they descended once more. Dunban offered to take the first watch.

Reyn tapped Sharla on the shoulder as they prepared for sleep. "How did you know about that?" he asked quietly.

Sharla flinched. "Gadolt took me here once," she whispered back.

"I'm… sorry."

Sharla shrugged it off. "Don't be. We'll find him."

Reyn grinned. "You bet we will! And me, Shulk and Dunban will be right there helping out."

Sharla's lips curled upwards briefly. "I know. And I appreciate it." She lay down to rest, suddenly sad. "Sleep well, Reyn."

"You too, Sharla."


	28. Exile Fortress

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

The party rose as the sun brightened the sky, eating breakfast as they packed their things for the day's hike. Dunban glanced over their camp area to ensure there was nothing left behind. He turned to his friends. "Are we all ready to go?" When they all confirmed, he nodded approvingly. "Then let's keep going. The Exile Fortress is to the east." He started to lead the way across Satorl Marsh.

"What were the monsters we needed to fight along the way, again?" Reyn asked.

Dunban reached into his pocket and pulled out the list of monsters the Nopon merchant had given them. "Two detox brogs, three coppice quadwings, two mist rhoguls and an officer volff."

"They're all monsters that hang around during the day," Dickson observed. "We should see a few walking around here. So keep an eye out."

"Speaking of which…" Reyn stopped and pointed into the murky water on the other side of the Crown Tree. Inside were a pair of detox brogs, leering at the party and slowly creeping towards them.

"Do you think those could be the ones we're after?" murmured Shulk.

"Possibly…" Dunban drew his sword and approached the edge of the swamp.

The brogs sped up, their eyes on Dunban as they lunged towards him.

Sharla, Dickson and Otharon immediately pulled out their rifles and fired, stopping one of the beasts dead in its tracks. The other pounced on Dunban, who easily sidestepped the beast and sliced it along the length of its side. The creature gasped, before a shudder wracked its body and it collapsed to the ground. Dunban pulled a pencil out of his pocket and crossed the brogs from the list.

Dunban tucked the list and pencil back into his pocket. "Shall we resume?" He and the others struck south-east, heading for the Exile Fortress to rescue Kacha.

They headed around the Barren Moor, a large pool of water with a number of small islands laying inside it. Brogs lounged on the islands, while quadwings sat on the branches of trees growing out of the water, watching the party as they walked past.

"Shouldn't we be fighting those?" Reyn asked, returning the quadwings' gaze.

"The Nopon said there were only a few, which had attacked them first," Dunban pointed out. "As long as they're not initiating the fight, we should be fine."

"They might not be attacking us because we're not so small," Sharla pointed out. "We might not look as tasty as the Nopon."

"I dunno man, Juju looks pretty little to me," grinned Reyn.

"Hey! Stop teasing me!"

"Well, why you gotta be so small, pipsqueak?"

"Sharla!" Juju appealed.

Sharla laughed. "You are pretty small, Juju."

"I'm almost as tall as you!"

"What's that?" Shulk pointed to a tall, spear-like object stuck out of the ground ahead of them.

"That's the Silent Obelisk," Dickson answered. "The High Entia built it when they frequented the Marsh. Helped them get around. It used to be all lit up at night, but its power source has run dry."

The Silent Obelisk, they saw as they approached, had a semi-circular base set into the ground and what appeared to be a giant, pale, three-pronged staff extending out of the ground.

"I haven't been this far out into the swamp," Otharon admitted. "I never went any further into the marsh than I needed to. Most of our business was close to the entrance; we had no purpose in coming out this far."

"Scared are you, old man?" Dickson drawled.

Otharon folded his arms and scowled. "Hmph. I'm just saying this is unfamiliar territory. We're relying on you and Dunban, Dickson."

Dunban fixed his sights on the fortress that was beginning to come into view. "Not sure that's a good idea, old man."

"There it is," said Dunban, pointing ahead of them. "The Exile Fortress."

The fortress was carved out of the grey stone that rose out of the ground. The party could see it had a couple of different levels, with grass growing all over the structure.

Otharon frowned. "What's that on the side of the fortress?"

Sharla squinted. "It… looks kind of like a door."

"Hey," said Reyn, pointing at a tree beside the fortress. "What's that?"

"What do you see, Reyn?" asked Shulk.

"Dunno…" Reyn dashed forwards and snatched something up from the ground. When he came back, they saw he was clutching a key. "Reckon this key fits into that door?"

"Only one way to find out," said Sharla. "Any idea how we get up there?"

"There's a path that goes all the way round the fortress," said Dickson. "Starts on the other side. We should probably head over there first."

Dickson led the way east until they hit a cliff face. They followed it south as it slowly curved west towards the fortress, before they ended up next to the building.

"Where to now?" Reyn asked. The fortress stood before them, towering over the party.

"We go around," Dickson informed them. "This path here," he indicated a path to their north, "will take us around the building to the other side." He led the party along it, around a corner and then another, until they were outside the door they had spotted before.

Reyn pulled out the key he had found earlier and inserted it into the lock. It slotted in perfectly.

"Be careful, Reyn," Sharla warned. "We don't know what's behind that door."

Reyn carefully pushed the door open. On the other side of it was what appeared to be a throne room, filled with humanoid creatures covered in blue-green scales. There were nine in total; three had their backs to the party, with three opposite those. To the left was a throne in which sat what was clearly their leader, flanked by two more of the creatures. Behind the throne, Reyn was startled to see, was a Nopon. It was shaking, its ears over its head. It appeared to be terrified. Reyn withdrew, gently closing the door behind him.

"There are a bunch of lizard people in there," Reyn informed the group.

"Lizard people?" Otharon repeated incredulously.

"Ignas," growled Dickson. "There are a bunch of 'em around the marsh."

"Did you see Kacha anywhere, Reyn?" Shulk asked.

"I saw a Nopon hiding behind a throne," Reyn replied. "That might be him. There are nine of the ignas in there. Six are right in front of the door. There's a throne to the left, which has one sitting in it and two on either side of it."

"So the Nopon's off to the left?" Dunban sought to clarify the layout.

Reyn nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"Then it might be best if we tried to sneak in," Dunban mused. "Reyn, do you think we could get to the throne unnoticed?"

Reyn scratched his head. "If there was only a couple of us, maybe. Yeah."

"Well then," Dunban turned to the group. "I'll go in with Dickson and Reyn. Sharla, keep watch. If they see us and attack, we'll need you to let Shulk and Otharon know so you can all help us out."

"Got it," Sharla confirmed.

"What about me?" asked Juju.

"It's too dangerous for you, son," Otharon told him.

Juju opened his mouth to protest, but Reyn cut across him. "Oi, kid. Remember what happened the last time you tried to help out?"

Juju's mind flashed back to the Ether Mines. He closed his mouth and nodded mutely.

"All right." Dunban moved towards the doorway. He placed a hand on the door, beckoning for Reyn and Dickson to join him. "The Nopon was to the left. Correct?"

"Yeah," said Reyn.

"All right. Keep your hands on your weapons, stick to the walls, and above all, stay silent."

"Yeah, yeah," growled Dickson. "I know how it goes, beast."

"Reyn?" Dunban looked at him.

"I know how to be quiet, Dunban!" Reyn exclaimed.

Dunban winced. "You are not being particularly convincing, Reyn. Make sure you watch where you place your feet." Dunban turned back to the door and slowly opened it. He entered the room and crept to the left, staying as close to the wall as possible. Reyn followed him inside, with Dickson bringing up the rear.

Reyn glanced at the ignas as they snuck along the side of the room. They had large blue-grey plates running down the back of their heads, necks, arms and legs. The front of their bodies had smaller plates which were green in colour, with lizard-like scales covering their face. Their feet ended in three elongated, pointy toes, their hands in three fingers and an opposable thumb.

Six of them were holding wicked blades with spikes poking out from their edges, and a wooden shield rimmed with metal in the other hand. Two were clutching wooden clubs topped with yellow stones, while the one sitting in its throne had an axe in each hand.

Dunban reached the Nopon first, and knelt down in front of it. He placed a hand on the top of its head and then quickly moved the other to its mouth to muffle its shout of surprise. The Nopon's eyes widened in shock as Dunban placed a finger to his lips and slowly reached inside of his pocket, showing him the monster list with his friend's handwriting on it. The Nopon calmed down and slowly nodded. Dunban removed his hand from the Nopon's mouth.

"Thank you very much!" he squeaked.

_Oh for the love of…_ Reyn whipped out his gunlance as Dickson swore and drew his gun. The ignas with the axes leapt over the back of its throne, bringing its weapons down on the Nopon.

Dunban unsheathed his katana and brought it up to meet his opponent's axes as they came crashing down. Dickson trained his gun on it and fired; the breast staggered backwards and Dunban slashed it to pieces.

The other ignas went berserk, all eight of them charging Reyn, Dunban and Dickson.

Shots were fired from behind the horde; two of the sword-wielding beasts fell, and they stopped, confused. Sharla and Otharon stood in the entryway, guns poised. Shulk stood in front of them, Monado in hand.

Dunban leapt forward, and Reyn was quick to follow. Dunban cut through another sword-wielding ignas and struck another, who blocked his ferocious attack. Dickson fired on one of the ones holding clubs; Reyn took advantage of the distraction to strike it down.

The remaining ignas tried to escape, but were confronted by the rifles of Colony 6. They were quickly wiped out by gunfire and the flash of a red sword.

Dunban grimly focused on the Nopon they had found behind the the throne. "Are you Kacha?"

"Why'd you have to shout like that?" yelled Reyn. "We were doing fine, we could have just snuck you out!"

"Me sorry! Me sorry!" squeaked the Nopon.

"Reyn!" said Dunban sharply. "You're not helping."

"Gah!" Reyn turned and headed outside, fuming.

Dunban turned back to the Nopon. "My apologies for his outburst. So, did you go by the name of Kacha?"

"Yes, me Kacha!" he confirmed. "Why hom hom here?"

"We were asked to rescue you by your friends," Dunban replied.

"Oh! How nice. But me not done researching."

"Researching what?" asked Shulk.

"The secret of the giants!"

"The giants?" Shulk repeated.

"Yes! This building used by giants. But me missing important piece," Kacha said sadly.

Shulk had an idea. "Do you know if this has anything to do with it?" He reached into his bag and brought out the mirror he had found on the Bionis' Leg at Daksha Shrine.

"Ooooh! Let me see!" Kacha reached up with his arms, and Shulk handed him the mirror. "Yes, me think this is it!" The nopon jumped up and down excitedly. "But, how you find this?"

"By accident," Shulk told him. "What does it do?"

"Me think this unlock the treasure!"

"Treasure?" Shulk echoed.

Kacha nodded. "Ignas here to steal treasure. But they not find it! Kacha know how find it."

"Where is this treasure?" Shulk asked eagerly.

"On roof of fortress!" exclaimed Kacha. "Kacha have key. We can go, if hom hom want."

"What do you say?" Shulk asked his friends.

"I don't see why not," said Dunban. "We've come this far already." The others agreed. Dickson's eyes narrowed.

Kacha nodded and walked behind the throne. He presented a key with a flourish, and the wall behind the throne melted away. He faced the party again. "Hom hom want follow?" He led the way out the door and outside, up to the top of the fortress.


	29. The Daring of the Giants

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Shulk, Reyn, Sharla, Dunban, Dickson, Otharon and Juju followed Kacha as he led them through the doorway behind the throne in Exile Fortress. He took them up a ramp, winding around the side of the building, until they found themselves back on to flat ground.

Grass grew atop the roof of the fortress, in the middle of which sat a dark-coloured altar. Kacha led the party to it and turned to Shulk. "Hom hom put mirror here!" he ordered.

Shulk obliged, laying the giants' mirror on top of the altar. The mirror glowed faintly, its light spreading across the altar. The two then went dim, and the altar opened up to reveal its contents.

Inside was a large orange orb, twice as big as Shulk's head. Reyn reached into the altar, placing his hands beneath it.

"Reyn!" said Dunban sharply.

"What?" asked Reyn, effortlessly lifting the orb from the altar. He gave a shout of surprise. "It's so light!"

Sharla saw something more out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and promptly reached for her weapon. "Guys!"

The rest of the party followed her eyes and immediately pulled out their own weapons. "There are three of them!" shouted Dunban.

The party were surrounded by giant arachno. They reminded Shulk and Reyn very much of the one they had encountered at the end of Tephra Cave, just before they came out on to the Bionis' Leg.

They were held up by four purple legs, each tipped with yellow claws. Four chelicerae protruded out of the sides of their tiny faces, with two on either side. Giant black ear-like structures stuck out of the tops of their heads, sporting striking red veins running through them from top to bottom. Out either side of their black abdomens grew an oval-shaped purple structure, from which three spikes poked out of the side. The top of the oval-shaped masses were black, with red dots spotted throughout.

Reyn gripped the orb tightly. "How do we fight these things!?"

"We don't!" said Dunban harshly. "We just need to break through!"

"What if they follow us?" shouted Juju, panicked.

"Then they'll fall to our blades," Dunban growled, rounding on the boy. "They won't all fit into the throne room. If they go that far, we can fight them one by one."

One of the arachno, tired of their conversation, fired a shot of web at the party. They dived to get out of the way; it stuck over the top of the altar.

"MOVE!" Dunban roared. He ushered Juju and the rest of the group back towards the ramp they had come up from, fending off the arachno with the help of Shulk and Dickson.

"Here, kid," growled Reyn, pushing the orb into Juju's hands. "Don't drop it. We'll follow ya. Get the orb and Kacha outta here!" He leapt into the fray alongside his friends, with Sharla and Otharon providing covering fire.

They slowly made their way across the roof of the Exile Fortress, creeping ever closer to the road leading downwards. Juju and Kacha stayed close to Sharla and Otharon, not daring to stray from their protectors.

Juju, Kacha, Sharla and Otharon made it to the ramp. "Start heading down!" barked Otharon. "We'll hold them off. Don't let them get that orb!"

As he spoke, one of Sharla's rifle bullets blasted off the chelicerae of one of the arachno, which Shulk was fighting. The beast shrieked, and he used the distraction to plunge the Monado into its face. It gave a shudder, before collapsing before him.

The other two arachno turned on Shulk, snapping their jaws. One of them lunged at him; he waved the Monado in response and a yellow shield appeared around him. The arachno stopped mid-air when it hit the shield with a sickening _crunch_.

Dickson leapt on the beast and pushed his rifle into its abdomen. He fired a bullet, sending arachno guts spraying across the roof of the fortress. Sharla and Otharon trained their rifles on the final remaining beast, which attempted to flee.

"Oh no you don't!" Reyn dashed into its escape route, holding up his shield. "You think we'll let you get away to attack us again!?"

The arachno shrieked and reared up, preparing to slam its fangs into Reyn. Shulk was reminded of the scene in Tephra Cave. _It feels so long ago_.

Dunban stepped up to the beast and executed a horizontal slice, cutting his foe in two with his katana. It fell to the ground.

"Ha!" said Reyn. "And you said we couldn't beat 'em!"

"We got lucky," growled Dunban. "Sharla landed an incredibly hard shot, and Shulk was quick off the mark."

"Are you implying I'm a bad shot, Dunban?" Sharla quipped, smiling. "And that Shulk has slow reflexes?"

"That's not what I was saying at all," Dunban began, but stopped when Sharla chuckled. "Ah. You were having a dig."

"I was," Sharla confirmed. "Relax a little, Dunban." Then she noticed Reyn, and her face changed. "Reyn! What happened to your arm!?"

"Hmm?" Reyn followed her gaze and saw part of it was covered in blood. "Oh, that. Just a scratch."

Sharla sighed. "Let me take a look." She held out Reyn's arm and examined the wound. "It doesn't look too serious. Let me patch it up though. It'll heal faster this way." Sharla reached into her bag and began tending to Reyn's wound.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Kacha, causing everyone to jump; they had all forgotten he was there.

"We're merely doing our duty," Dunban replied.

"So what is that orb?" Shulk asked, turning to look at the object in Juju's hands.

"It key." Kacha walked over to Juju to look at the orb more closely. "There two more like it. This one called Daring of the Giants."

"Daring of the Giants?" Shulk echoed. He frowned. "You said it was a key. A key to what, exactly?"

The Nopon shook his head. "Kacha not know. That why Kacha travel with merchants; Kacha look for answers."

"So what're we going to do with it?" Reyn asked.

"Hom hom leave Daring of Giants with Kacha if they not want it," Kacha suggested hopefully.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Sharla agreed. "Kacha will probably make much better use of it than we can, and he can continue his research."

"Sounds like a plan," Reyn agreed. The others nodded. He looked down at his arm, now partly bandaged. "Thanks, Sharla."

"No problem, Reyn. Just let me at it sooner next time."

"First, we need to get you back to camp," Dunban said to Kacha. The Nopon was ecstatic with his find as he and the others headed back down the ramp leading down the side of the fortress, back through the throne room, around the path leading all the way around the fortress and came out to ground level.

The party struck north-west, heading back towards the Nopon camp. The sun began its descent in the sky as they walked. They headed past the Silent Obelisk, around the Barren Moor and the Poison Swamp, passing the stunning Zaldania Waterfall again.

"I still can't believe how light this thing is," Juju commented, staring in amazement at the orange ball in his hands.

"It probably giant magic," said Kacha. "Giants able to make all kinds of magic."

"What other kind of magic could they do?" Juju asked the Nopon.

The Nopon spread its tiny arms wide. "Lots and lots! Kacha cannot possibly name them all."

The Nopon camp was in sight, and the sky above was pink. When they arrived, the Nopon in the camp were overjoyed to see their friend again. Kacha beckoned them over.

"Look what Kacha find with hom hom friend!" he exclaimed.

"That what Kacha looking for?" one of them asked.

Kacha nodded. "One of them. Friends going to leave it with Kacha so Kacha can research."

"That excellent news!" said the Nopon. He looked up. "Hom hom stay with us tonight?"

"If you wouldn't mind, that would be greatly appreciated," said Dunban gratefully.

"It no trouble!" the Nopon assured him. "Come, gather around campfire, tell stories and eat."

The party told the Nopon merchants everything that had transpired on their journey to and from the Exile Fortress; the brogs, the Crown Tree, the secret key and their fight in the throne room; Kacha was embarrassed at this point. They talked of finding the orange orb using the mirror Shulk had chanced upon at the Bionis' Leg. The Nopon were fascinated, listening intently even as they ate their dinner.

"We haven't defeated all the monsters you've asked us to yet, but we will before we leave the marsh," Dunban assured them.

"Hmm… Okay." One of the merchants jumped up and yawned. "Sleep time for everyone methinks."

"You said it," Reyn agreed. "I'm pooped out after all that action today."

"How's your arm, Reyn?" Sharla asked him.

"Yeah, feels fine. You did a great job on it."

Sharla unwrapped the bandages, taking a long look at it. "It looks okay. I might wrap it up again, just to be sure it doesn't get infected."

Shulk leaned back, looking up at the sky. _It's been a long day_. "I might get some rest too."

"I think we all should," said Dunban.

"Agreed," said Dickson. "That would require all of you to stop talking so we can all get some piece and quiet."

Dunban chuckled. "All right then. See you all in the morning."


	30. Gem Which Cannot Be Stolen

**_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._**

Reyn woke to find a small shoulder digging into his ribs.

He sat up suddenly, and Juju staggered backwards. "Oi! What're you doing, kid?" Reyn asked irritably.

"Everyone's going to leave without you!" exclaimed Juju. "Hurry up, slowcoach! We're all ready to go!"

"All right, all right!" Reyn scrambled to his feet. He snatched up his bag and glanced around; his stomach growled.

"Catch!"

Reyn looked up and quickly stretched out his arms, fumbling with the bundle the kid had tossed him.

"Don't say I never do you any favours!" Juju teased.

Reyn tore open the bundle and ripped into its contents. He put it into his bag before he and Juju hurried after the rest of the party. As it turns out, they had only just left the camp, and were waiting for he and Juju to catch up.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" said Sharla warmly.

Reyn scowled, detecting a hint of sarcasm. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Well you're up now, so let's get moving." said Dunban. He turned and began to lead everyone south-east.

"So where are we going?" Juju asked.

"We'll be going past the fortress again, but we won't be stopping there this time," Dunban answered. "We also need to keep an eye out for the rogue beasts the Nopon merchants asked us to defeat. Officer volffs, mist rhoguls and coppice quadwings; don't forget."

"Even I up before you, Reyn!" piped up Kacha.

Reyn was startled. "What are you doing here?"

"Kacha return to Makna. There another Nopon at home who studying giants."

"Kacha wanted to head back and report to his colleague, Lupa," Dunban explained. "So we'll be escorting him home. His intimate knowledge of the forest should prove useful to us."

"And since Reyn late," the Nopon thrust his orange orb into Reyn's arms, "Reyn get to carry Daring of Giants!"

Reyn sighed, resigned to his fate.

"Let's get moving, shall we?" Sharla suggested.

Dunban led the group back across the marsh. As they passed Zaldania Waterfall, they spotted a couple of mist rhoguls sitting on a tree branch. The birds watched them as they got closer, bristling their dark brown feathers as a sign of warning.

"I think these might be the flappers we're looking for," growled Dickson. Reyn slowly passed the Daring of the Giants to Kacha, keeping his sights locked firmly on the birds.

Sharla slowly raised her rifle to aim it at the rhoguls. They stared each other down; the party's hands hovered over their weapons.

Sharla fired, and one bird dropped like a rock to the ground. The other screeched and dived towards Juju.

Reyn leapt in front of the boy, so the bird crashed into his shield with enough force to lift him off his feet, and a loud snap rent the air. Juju leapt aside as Reyn slammed into the ground on his back; the bird thrashed about on his shield for a few seconds before laying still.

Reyn thrust the mist rhogul aside and inspected his shield; it had not a crack in it. "My shield's fine. What the hell was that noise?"

"Probably broke its neck," Dickson answered. "Wasn't expecting to hit something that hard." He looked to Shulk. "That's solid craftmanship, Shulk."

Shulk couldn't suppress a grin. "Thanks, Dickson!"

Dunban looked down at the rhogul Reyn had brushed off. "It seems as if one of the merchant's requests has been fulfilled. Two more to go."

"Juju, are you okay?" Sharla asked, hurrying over to check him for injuries.

"I'm fine," Juju said quickly, squirming out of his sister's grip. Sharla laughed.

The party continued on their way through the marsh. They put the waterfall behind them as they trekked through the Poison Swamp, where brogs were abundant in the toxic waters. Ahead of them was the Barren Moor; Dunban drew his katana.

"The rogue officer volff was last seen around here," Dunban informed the party. "Be on the lookout, and stay on your guard."

There was little to be seen at the Barren Moor, which was to be expected from its name. Water pooled between two gently sloping hills, with trees growing out of the mire. The party selected the longer of two routes in circomventing the moor, giving themselves more of a chance to bump into the stray volff.

Ren wrinkled his nose, the Daring of the Giants tucked under his arm. "It stinks."

"Almost as badly as you do after a fight, Reyn," Sharla quipped.

"Oi!" Reyn protested. "I don't smell this bad!"

"I do beg to differ, Reyn," smiled Dunban.

"Right," agreed Shulk. "You're not the best to judge your on stench, Reyn."

"Of course I am! Who's gonna know me better than me?"

A howl alerted the group to the presence of a new foe. The sound of feet running through the muck was soon followed by the appearance of a volff with light grey fur that darkened towards its tail and paws. A pale pink tuft of fur stuck up on the top of its head, like a small woollen cap. The creature's eyes were on the party, its hackles raised.

The volff lunged at Otharon, who swore and leapt to the side. Dickson drew his weapon and fired a shot, hitting the beast in its front shoulder and blasting it backwards. He fired another shot into the beast's head, and it lay still.

"Otharon!" Sharla hurried over to him. "Are you hurt?"

"Just a scratch," he muttered. He showed Sharla his upper left arm, now sporting light scratch marks from the volff attack. Dickson and Dunban confirmed the beast was dead while she patched him up.

Otharon rolled his shoulder to get a feel for his arm. "Good job. Thanks, Medic."

Sharla put her medical kit away. "No problem, Otharon."

"Shall we get moving?" Dunban suggested. They continued around the Barren Moor, keeping an eye out for the three rogue coppice quadwings. They began to head east as the moorland curved, and then continued walking in that direction. They passed the Silent Obelisk once more, and then the Exile Fortress. Kacha shuddered as they put it behind them, the sun now close to the horizon.

A bright glow lay ahead of the party. As they approached, they saw it sitting on top of a tall white pillar, topped with three prongs which curved inwards to hold a small ball of light.

"This lamp… It has a very strange glow," Shulk commented.

"It's a remnant of the High Entia," Dickson told him. "They've hidden themselves away in the upper reaches now, but at one time they controlled this whole area."

"Good for them," said Reyn.

Dickson turned to the group. "It's the perfect place to get some shut eye. The lamp'll keep the monsters away. We'll be safe if we rest here."

The party set up camp and set about making dinner. Shulk leaned against the lamp behind him, his thoughts on Colony 9.

Fiora sighed in his mind, tilting her head back as they sat together at Outlook Park. "The breeze feels so good," she commented. "It's so peaceful," she continued. "You know, Shulk," she tilted her head to one side, a content smile playing on her face, "I hope every day can be like this, always."

He saw the mobile artillery being smashed into the side of a house in the residential district before tumbling to the ground; Fiora was slumped forwards in the driver's seat. And then Metal Face had pulled back his arm and thrust it into the cockpit; Fiora's scream ripped Shulk in two.

He remembered the machine tossing her aside like a ragdoll, the nearby Mechon jumping on to the artillery and surrounding the cockpit…

Shulk stared at the dark ground, fighting back the hot tears welling in his eyes.

He saw himself, Monado drawn, watching a silver-faced Mechon flip over his head atop Prison Island. "You will pay for what you've done!" he roared.

The Monado's blade grew to twice its standard length, and Shulk brought it down on Metal Face's arm. The faced Mechon collapsed to the ground, and Shulk walked slowly towards him. "You will know the pain and suffering you caused the Emperor and Fiora!"

He saw himself cutting open the silver-faced Mechon to see its insides, before the images changed to the dream he had had in Tephra Cave; a man stood in shadowy mist, asking Shulk but a single question.

"Do you wish to change it?"

_Yes._

"The future."

Shulk slowly raised his head.

_It's not the _future _I want to change…_

"Has it been that long?"

"Dickson." Shulk was startled when his friend wandered over and leaned on the obelisk behind them.

"Fourteen years since I found you on that mountain," Dickson said. "Seems like yesterday." He thought back to the icy chapel on Valak Mountain, remembering the lifeless bodies strewn across the floor. At the end of a long corridor was a circular room, in which sat the Monado, surrounded by an aura coloured bluish purple. A small boy had been curled at the pedestal's base, breathing steadily.

Shulk finally stood up. "I owe it all to you. If you hadn't found me that day, I wouldn't be here now, discovering the world."

"Forgive me, Shulk," said Dickson. "Sorry I couldn't save your folks."

"Don't be," said Shulk quickly.

"Now I think about it, that was when I found the Monado as well," Dickson mused. "This might be crazy talk, but maybe you and the Monado are part of some higher plan."

"I don't remember much at all," Shulk admitted. "But I know that my mum and dad left me it. The Monado was their final gift to me. At least, that's how I used to think of it. That's why I wanna discover its true power, and help defeat the Mechon. But so far I've just been creating piles of Mechon scrap," he laughed.

"So you don't just wanna study it in a lab after all," Dickson observed.

"This sword…" Shulk began, and then tried to start again. "There must be some way…" Shulk lapsed into silence, and Dickson quietly left Shulk to his own thoughts.


	31. The Shimmering Marsh

****_I don't own any of the characters, settings, the plot, and so on. I merely chose to adapt Xenoblade Chronicles from game to novel format. Enjoy._****

Shulk lay awake beneath the glow of the High Entian lamp, thinking of Dickson and the Monado. _Why can't I sleep? _Shulk turned over and closed his eyes, listening to the steady breathing of his comrades. But in his mind's eye, he could see nothing else.

Shulk sat up with a sigh.

"Having trouble sleeping?"

"Dunban!" Shulk watched as the man eased on to the ground beside him. "Yeah, little bit."

"What's troubling you, Shulk?"

Shulk pulled the Monado from his back, holding it out before he and Dunban. "It's just…" Shulk wasn't sure where to begin, so he fell silent. After a short while, he started again. "I just… I want to understand how the Monado works. I want to know where it came from, why my parents had it, why I can wield it when even you can't, Dunban."

"Hmm." Dunban leaned back on his hands, staring up at the starry sky. "Why not? What do I have that you don't?"

"Uh…" Shulk was taken aback by the question. "Um… Loads of things."

"Such as?" Dunban challenged.

"Well… Military training, for one. You're far stronger than I am."

"You are far more capable than many of my trained comrades from the military, Shulk, and brute strength won't get me very far. Try again."

"Um… You're older, wiser…"

Dunban suppressed a laugh. "Not as old and wise as Dickson. And he dare not wield the Monado," Dunban teased. Shulk blushed, and Dunban grinned. Then his tone turned more serious. "I'm not sure what exactly it is, Shulk, but you definitely possess something myself and others do not that allows you to harness the power of the Monado in a way none of us can." Dunban paused. "You possess… a strong drive, or will, to learn as much about the blade as possible. I feel that has something to do with it."

"Well…" Shulk admitted, "that's true, I guess. I was talking to Dickson earlier, and… I feel kind of like the Monado was my parents' final gift to me. I want to unravel its secrets and figure out how it works. Maybe then I can understand why they left it to me."

"Hmm… That's an interesting idea, Shulk."

"Would you ever wield the Monado again, Dunban?"

"No." Shulk was startled by Dunban's quick and firm response. "I can still barely use my right arm. I had to learn to fight all over again with my left after the Battle of Sword Valley. Aside from that…" Dunban hesitated.

Shulk recalled what Dunban had told him after he had arrived home from the war. "Are you afraid?"

Dunban served Shulk a wry smile, and looked away. "Yes."

Shulk looked up at the sky.

"I completely lost myself, that final night," Dunban said softly. "I was no longer in control of my own body. I was merely a vessel for the Monado's will. I had felt it tugging at me before, but… It overpowered me that night. That blade nearly killed me. If I ever have to wield it again, I will, but… I hope it never comes to that."

_Woah._ Shulk was taken aback. _I never thought Dunban was afraid of anything…_

"Do you feel it, Shulk?" Dunban asked. "Do you feel it tugging at your mind?"

Shulk shook his head. "I did when I first picked it up, but… I haven't felt anything like that since we drove the Mechon out of Colony 9."

"Interesting." Dunban got to his feet. "It's been good talking with you, Shulk. Try to get some rest."

"All right." Shulk watched Dunban go, and then lay down to rest.

Shulk was the last to awaken the next morning. He hurried to gather his things together, scoffed down some food and scampered over to the rest of the group, who watched him with amusement.

"Finally decided to join us, Shulk?" Dickson drawled.

"Sorry guys," said Shulk, embarrassed. "Didn't sleep a wink."

"Right then." Everyone turned to face Dunban as he spoke. "Time to move on. How far now?"

"We'll be there soon enough," Dickson replied. "The High Entia ruins are just ahead." The party looked to where Dickson was pointing. "Are we all ready to head off?" When everyone confirmed, he started to lead the way. "Let's go, then."

"Weren't there still some monsters for us to clear out for them Nopon?" Reyn asked Dunban.

"That is correct," Dunban replied. "We still need to defeat three coppice quagwings. I suspect they'll be ahead. The Nopon told me that they're found on route to Makna Forest, so I suspect they'll reveal themselves sooner or later."

Dickson led the party off the path and into a body of water. Reyn wrinkled his nose. "Do we have to go through this stuff?"

"There's no other way," growled Dickson. "I'd prefer to not get wet myself, but we don't have a choice in the matter."

Reyn sighed and trudged along, the water getting no deeper than his knees.

They followed the path as it rounded a corner. A floodgate lay ahead of them, with short cliffs on either side of them. Shulk noticed what appeared to be sculptures taop them. "Have there been homs out here before?"

Dickson followed his gaze. "No. They're all High Entian. They used to use this area for all kinds of rituals. There's even the remains of a rite of passage up ahead, past that floodgate. The Mauk Floodgate, it's called."

"What does 'Mauk' mean?"

Dickson shrugged. "The name of the old bugger who had them built, I imagine. Those higher ups are quite fond of naming things after themselves."

Shulk gazed up at the structures on the cliffs as they passed under them. There were a couple of bridges, flanked on either side by ancient statues. They even saw what appeared to have once been a gazebo, though the roof was missing, its columns sitting jagged in the sky.

"I wonder what took that off," Shulk head Sharla mutter.

"And what it was used for," Shulk added.

As the party approached Mauk Floodgate, they saw three shadowy figures sitting on its walls. They took to the air when they spotted the group.

"Oi, Dunban!" Reyn called. "Reckon they might be them quadwings we need to take out?"

"I do believe so, Reyn." Dunban drew his katana, Reyn doing the same. "Dickson! Sharla! Otharon! Do you think you can shoot any of them down before they reach us?"

"I can try." Sharla readied her rifle, Otharon mimicking her.

Dickson shrugged. "Mine's too short ranged for that. But," he pulled it out all the same, "if they get close, I'll take care of it."

Shulk pulled out the Monado, watching the birds as they began to dive towards them, squawking loudly.

With a crack of Sharla's rifle, one of the birds fell from the air and began thrashing in the water. Otharon took down another, which dropped to the ground, lifeless. As the third one reached the party, Dunban raised his blade, cutting it out of the air. Reyn walked over to Sharla's quadwing and ran it through, silencing it.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Kacha.

"They didn't seem to be all that tough," Dickson commented.

"No," Dunban confirmed. "Though they would be difficult to deal with to any unarmed Nopon." He sheathed his sword. "That should help those merchants get home safely, now."

The party continued onwards. Curved stone pillars anchored the metal barriers that comprised the main wall of the floodgate. One of the metal components was missing, leaving space for the group to get to the other side.

Ahead, a stone ramp rose from the water, bringing them on to a long path leading to another set of High Entian ruins.

"The upper regions are through that entrance," Dickson informed them. "You gotta go through Makna Forest first." He turned away from the ruins. "Prison Island is at the Bionis' head, just above Makna Forest."

"It pains me to say it," Otharon began, "but this is the point where I turn back. I must see to the survivors, and I'm also very concerned about Colony 9."

"I understand." Shulk nodded. "Thank you for everything."

_Say it now, or you'll regret it. _"I might have said a few things I shouldn't have back in the mine," Otharon admitted. "Forgive me."

"No, it's okay," Shulk insisted.

Otharon's tone turned more serious. "I owe you my life, young man. I'll never forget it, Heir to the Monado." He looked to Sharla. "Medic, will you stay with them?"

"I…" Sharla paused for a fraction of a second before continuing. "I want to help Shulk. The Mechon must pay for what they did." She stared at the ground, fighting to stop her voice from shaking. "And I'm sure Gadolt is still alive somewhere. If he is, I have to find him."

"Find him, for me too," Otharon replied firmly. "Good luck."

"Sharla," Juju began, "I want to go with Otharon."

"Are you sure?" Sharla asked him, surprised.

"Yeah." Juju nodded. "I've never seen anything cooler than Shulk smashing Mechon with the Monado! But… I'm just slowing you down."

"No way, kid!" Reyn interjected. "You just need to shape up, like me!"

"It's okay," said Juju quickly, "I've made up my mind. Compared to you guys, I know I'm pretty useless. But that's cool. Because I know what I _can_ do. I'm gonna go back to the colony, and help the survivors rebuild their lives."

Reyn smiled. _Good lad._ "You'll do us proud, kid."

"Good luck, Juju," said Shulk.

Juju was relieved. "Thanks!"

"Shulk, Reyn." Otharon addressed the boys. "Keep Sharla safe for me."

"Dickon," Shulk approached the man, "are you leaving too?"

"The Mechon may be gone from Colony 6 now, but that doesn't mean we've seen the last of 'em," Dickson told Shulk. "When they launch another attack, and they will, Colony 9's gonna need my help."

"Yeah," said Shulk, "I guess you're really needed at the colony."

"This ain't the last you'll see of me," Dickson assured the group. He looked back at Shulk. "You should be all right for now. Look after the Monado."

"You can bet on it!" exclaimed Shulk. "We won't let the colony down."

"You'll make us proud, Shulk." He began to take his leave, pausing as he passed Reyn. He looked the man up and down before speaking. "You, on the other hand, need to buck up your ideas! How else are you gonna protect Shulk?"

Reyn chuckled. "Thanks for the heads-up, Dickson."

"Good luck," grinned Dickson. "See ya." He, Otharon and Juju began to head back through the marsh to Colony 6. He paused at the top of the ramp, looking back at Shulk, Reyn, Sharla and Dunban. He sighed and muttered under his breath, "Can't say I feel too good about deceiving these kids."

Otharon glanced back to see Dickson had stopped. "What's that you say?" he called.

"Just mumbling," said Dickson, waving a hand around. "Forget I said anything." He turned and followed Otharon and Juju back to the colony.

**_Apologies for disappearing for so long without warning. The semester restarted which was an intense one, we moved house (into a crappy living situation that stressed me out a lot) and we had some family issues. With all of that largely sorted, I'll be looking to getting back into this, because I've missed writing it. Expect three weekly updates once more as I get back into the groove. Again, sorry for disappearing!_**


End file.
